Human Exposure To Chemicals From Common Household Products In Wastewater Residuals – Researcher Talks About Findings In Free Webinar

Free webinar on January 30 features a professor of environmental engineering at the Colorado School of Mines

A new webinar hosted by AB SCIEX, a global leader in analytical technologies, will provide insight into the issue of chemicals from household products ending up in wastewater residuals that are used in agriculture.

The featured speaker will be Chris Higgins, PhD, an assistant professor in the Civil & Environmental Engineering Department at the Colorado School of Mines. The free webinar, which is entitled, “Accumulation of Contaminants of Emerging Concern in Edible Crops,” will be held online at 1 p.m. Eastern (10 a.m. Pacific) on Thursday, January 30, 2014. To register for the webinar, click here (http://discover.absciex.com/LP=2347?elq=fac66afa509240c5996dd92f23474089&elqCampaignId=2767).

The presence of these potentially harmful chemicals is the result of people flushing chemical waste down the drains of their sinks, showers and toilets every day. Some of the chemicals, such as pharmaceutical compounds, plasticizers and corrosion inhibitors, among others, can persist in both wastewater effluent and biosolids, both of which can be used in agriculture. Wastewater effluent, when treated, can be used as reclaimed water for crop irrigation, and wastewater solids (biosolids) can also be used for crop fertilization when appropriately treated.

Professor Higgins has been using mass spectrometry-based technology to monitor the accumulation of these chemical contaminants in food crops to get a better understanding of the potential exposure that humans have to consuming these types of contaminants in fresh produce.

Key learnings from the webinar:

• Learn about contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) and their accumulation in plants & crops
• Learn about the potential human exposure associated with CECs present in produce
• Learn how the bioaccumulation of CECs in edible crops is being examined using mass spec approaches

The ultimate goal of this ongoing project at the Colorado School of Mines is to improve mechanistic understanding of plant uptake of CECs, thereby allowing for advancement of models intended to predict human exposure.

AB SCIEX, the host of the webinar, provides environmental testing solutions that enable scientists and laboratory technicians to identify and quantify trace levels of contaminants. For more information, go to: http://www.absciex.com/applications/environmental-testing

About AB SCIEX
AB SCIEX helps to improve the world we live in by enabling scientists and laboratory analysts to push the limits in their field and address the complex analytical challenges they face. The company’s global leadership and world-class service and support in the mass spectrometry industry have made it a trusted partner to thousands of the scientists and lab analysts worldwide who are focused on basic research, drug discovery and development, food and environmental testing, forensics and clinical research. With 40 years of proven innovation, AB SCIEX excels by listening to and understanding the ever-evolving needs of its customers to develop reliable, sensitive and intuitive solutions that continue to redefine what is achievable in routine and complex analysis. For more information, visit www.absciex.com/company/overview.s