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Exploring the Link Between Emerging Contaminants and Adverse Human Health Outcomes
Orbitrap Fusion™ Lumos™ Tribrid™ Mass Spectrometer
Synthetic organic chemicals are used in large quantities daily for purposes such as preservation of food, industrial processes, agriculture and human healthcare. These include chemicals such as pesticides, pharmaceuticals, personal care products, surfactants and many more.
Many studies have examined the occurrence of these chemicals in aquatic environments in order to understand their fate in surface, ground, and drinking waters within the developed world. Since the environmental and human health impacts of these chemicals are often unknown, these “micropollutants” are classified as contaminants of emerging concern (CECs). Although emerging contaminants have been extensively studied for occurrence and fate in drinking water sources throughout the developed world, the impact of these compounds on water quality in the developing world and the links to water borne disease have not been comprehensively assessed. Additionally, sometimes analytical methods for the detection of “newer” emerging contaminants in the environment do not yet exist or are not robust enough for the detection and quantification of the contaminants in the environment. This causes an issue for understanding the health and environmental impacts of these new emerging contaminants. With this lack of knowledge in mind, I have three goals with my research:
1. Correlating glyphosate levels, water hardness measurements and chronic kidney disease of unknown etiology (CKDu) occurrence in endemic regions of rural Sri Lanka. With this aim, I am developing a novel analytical technique to detect the pesticide glyphosate in Sri Lankan well water. It is hypothesized that a mixture of hard water and glyphosate contribute to CKDu in this region. If water hardness and glyphosate levels correlate well with CKDu occurrence, then it will be strong evidence for this mixture to be a potential cause for CKDu. If not, then this opens the door to exploring what other emerging contaminants are present in these waters and how are they connected to CKDu.
Graphical abstract from: Ulrich, J.C. and Ferguson, P.L. “Development of a Sensitive Direct Injection LC-MS/MS Method for the Detection of Glyphosate and Aminomethylphosphonic Acid (AMPA) in Hard Waters.” Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry. 2021.
Contaminated drinking well water might be the cause for a mysterious kidney disease that has been affecting farmers in rural Sri Lanka for decades. (Photo by Dr. Nishad Jayasundara)
2. Understanding the different environmental factors that contribute to glyphosate persistence and fate in hard waters. The half-life of glyphosate increases from ~60 days to 7-22 years when present in hard water versus "soft water." This is due the ability of glyphosate to act as an organic ligand and complex with metal ions present in water systems. I plan on exploring how various different environmental factors will impact the complexation of this contaminant. This includes studying phosphate concentration, salinity, pH, temperature, as well as other factors.
3. Characterize the chemical pollutant profile of Sri Lankan well water to better understand the chemical mixtures populations are exposed to. Various other organic contaminants are present in waters in the developing world but we rarely know which ones are there. Here we use novel HRMS and NTS techniques to better understand the chemical pollutant profile of well waters in Sri Lanka. It is hypothesized that other nephrotoxic chemicals, besides glyphosate, and/or nephrotoxic chemical mixtures present in CKDu contaminated well waters. Future studies on organic chemical mixtures and impacts on CKDu will be developed from the results in order to better characterize the complex organic mixture present in water. Thus, this will add valuable insight into the potential mixture toxicity of various organic contaminants present in well water.
Heat map representing the distribution of various organic contaminants present in water samples from Sri Lanka in 2018.
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