Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in olive fruits as a measure of air pollution in the valley of Florence (Italy)

Journal Article · Mon Jun 01 04:00:00 EDT 1992 · Bulletin of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00201139· OSTI ID:35662

Ignesti, G; Lodovici, M; Dolara, P ^[1]; Lucia, P; Grechi, D ^[2]

---

1. Dept. of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Florence (Italy)
2. Public Health Service, Florence (Italy)

Plants have often been used for monitoring air pollution, such as Tradescantia for detecting mutagenic chemicals, or mosses which are bio-accumulators of heavy metals. Mosses have also been used as indicators of pollution from hexachlorobenzene and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. PAH are present in most crops, and are deposited on the foliar surface of plants exposed to polluted air. Plants grown in heavily polluted environments have a higher concentration of PAH than those growing in clean environments, and plants grown in cabinets with filtered air have a very low concentration of PAH. Alimentary oils have high concentrations of PAH due to crop exposure to air pollutants and a high solubility of PAH in oils. PAH are important initiators of some human cancers and their monitoring is believed to be important for public health. Most Italian towns are heavily polluted by car exhaust and industrial sources, and a high concentration of PAH has been reported in the air particulate of urban areas. On the basis of these premises we thought it of interest to determine the concentration of some PAH in the olive fruits of trees growing in the valley of Florence (Italy), to establish if this approach could be useful for monitoring air pollution by PAH. 9 refs., 3 figs.

• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• OSTI ID: 35662
• Journal Information: Bulletin of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology, Journal Name: Bulletin of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology Journal Issue: 6 Vol. 48; ISSN 0007-4861; ISSN BECTA6
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
AIR POLLUTION
AIR POLLUTION MONITORING
CHEMICAL ANALYSIS
ECOLOGICAL CONCENTRATION
FRUITS
ITALY
POLYCYCLIC AROMATIC HYDROCARBONS
TREES
URBAN AREAS