Page 20 - Shimadzu Journal vol.3 Issue1

Environmental Monitoring

3. International Conference of Asian Environmental tendency that data reported by Thailand seem higher than those
Chemistry 2014 reported by India, Malaysia and Pakistan for PFOA. In addition,
significant correlation was obtained between data obtained from
Disseminating the project activities and findings at relevant 1st and 2nd sampling for PFOS, PFOA and PFOA/PFOS ratio,
academic conferences is one of the objectives of the project. For indicating consistency of measurement in each location. In order
this purpose, a UNU session was established as part of the to make findings from the project convincible, it is necessary to
scientific programs of the International Conference of Asian show reproducibility through continuation of monitoring.”
Environmental Chemistry (ICAEC) 2014 held from November 24th
to 26th in Bangkok, Thailand. The ICAEC 2014 focused on the
importance of preventing pollution by micro-pollutants and
developing sound environmental management systems in South
East Asia, East Asia and the South Pacific region. Recent research
activities and observations of various environmental pollutions by
micro-pollutants such as PCB, POPs, PPCP, VOC as well as E-waste
were presented and discussed by more than 500 environmental
chemists from about 20 countries.
The National Project Coordinators (NPCs) from eight countries
joined the UNU session and presented their reports on the
monitoring activities of PFOA and PFOS in their region that
occurred during the first half term of the sixth phase of the
project. The samples were collected from river water in each
country during the wet and dry seasons of 2013 and 2014. The
water samples were concentrated using a solid phase extraction
cartridge and stored in a refrigerator. The final extracts were
analyzed by electrospray ionization LC-MS/MS and the target UNU Session at ICAEC 2014
compounds were detected using multiple reaction monitoring
(MRM) using the Shimadzu LCMS-8040 installed in Singapore and
Korea. The procedure was done with reference to the ISO25101:
2009(E) analytical method.
In India, samples were collected from the Kaveri, Vellar and
Teamiraparani Rivers with sampling points randomly selected in
industrial areas, urban centers and coastal areas. It was observed
that PFOA concentration had increased when compared with past
research references and the detection of PFCs in wet reason was
higher than in dry season. Korea reported on the analysis of PFOS
and PFOA in water samples collected from rivers, agricultural areas
and industrialized bays in Korea with the highest concentration
being 33.2 ng/L for PFOS and 42.2 ng/L for PFOA. Singapore
provided analysis results of PFOS/PFOA in water samples collected
from 8 locations in river water, reservoir water and sea water. It
observed that the major sources of PFCs in environmental water in
Singapore come from municipal and industrial wastewater
effluent. The highest concentration value was 19 ng/L for PFOS
Poster presentation
and 7.8 ng/L for PFOA. Contrary to India, the detected
concentration in dry season was higher than in wet season.
4. UNU Project and Stockholm Convention on POPs
Thailand also reported monitoring results with samples collected from
25 locations in four main rivers, industrial areas and the sea. It In addition to the NPCs’ report, Dr. Yasuyuki Shibata of the
presented that the industrial zone indicated high concentration in National Institute for Environmental Studies in Japan outlined the
detection during wet season with 729.2 ng/L for PFOS and 118.7 ng/L global monitoring plan (GMP) activities of POPs under the
for PFOA. Viet Nam presented concentration of 13 PFCs in surface Stockholm Convention. The Stockholm Convention is a global
water collected at 20 sampling locations from drainage systems in treaty designed to restrict the production and use of persistent
Hanoi city. The highest concentration was 1.65 ng/L for PFOS and organic pollutants in order to protect human health and the
11.64 ng/L for PFOA in rainy season. Aside from oral presentations environment from these chemicals. The convention was adopted
from India, Korea, Singapore, Thailand and Viet Nam during the UNU in 2001 and 12 chemicals were registered as POPs; an additional
session, NPCs from the Philippines, Malaysia and Pakistan presented 11 chemicals have since been added. PFCs, the target compounds
their results during poster sessions at the ICAEC 2014. of the sixth phase of the UNU-Shimadzu partnership project, were
listed under the Stockholm Convention in 2009.
“So far more than 230 and 270 data were obtained for PFOS and
PFOA, respectively,” said Dr. Osamu Ito, the United Nations The GMP was established to evaluate the effectiveness of the
University Institute for the Advanced Study of Sustainability Stockholm Convention and to provide a comprehensive framework
(UNU-IAS). “Although it is still difficult to extract any clear trend for the collection of monitoring data on POPs from all regions,
across the countries from those limited number of data, there is compilation of the regional reports and the development of

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