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This study investigated the formation of eight N-nitrosamines after laboratory chlorination and chloramination of Western Australian source waters (from protected catchments), which experience periodic cyanobacterial blooms. All measured N-nitrosamines, except N-nitrosodipropylamine, were detected at least once, and total N-nitrosamine formation was higher after chloramination than after chlorination. While previous studies have shown that some cyanobacteria can be related to the formation of N-nitrosamines, formation of N-nitrosamines in the waters tested did not correlate with total cyanobacteria count. Estimates of toxicity, using published 50% lifetime excess cancer risk values, indicated that N-nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA) was the highest contributor to the total measured N-nitrosamine toxicity, suggesting that other measured N-nitrosamines will only influence toxicity when they are present at significantly higher concentrations than NDMA. When assessing the overall health impact of disinfection by-products, it is important to also consider the formation of disinfection by-products other than N-nitrosamines, which may be present at higher concentrations and thus may present higher toxicity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Triclosan is a chlorinated phenol ether that has been in widespread use as a broad-spectrum antibacterial agent for four decades. When compared to the limited international data available on human body burden of triclosan, results from a pooled blood study suggested that triclosan concentrations in Australia were a factor two higher than observed in Sweden. This study determined triclosan levels in individual human milk samples (n =151) collected between 2002 and 2005 from primiparous Australian mothers. It provided the first report of population triclosan levels and individual variation in Australia and gave a measure of infant exposure via breast feeding. The distribution of triclosan concentration was positively skewed, with 7.2% of the samples below the LOQ, 66% with a concentration of less than or equal to 1.0ngg−1 fresh weight and the remaining samples above 1ngg−1 reaching a maximum concentration of 19ngg−1 fresh weight. The mean and median triclosan concentrations were 1.3±2.7ngg−1 f.w. and 0.26ngg−1 f.w., respectively. The results of this study showed high variability in triclosan concentrations between individuals and no correlations with maternal age (p =0.094), maternal weight (p =0.971) or infant age at the time of sample collection (p =0.621). A large number of samples contained low or non-quantifiable concentrations of triclosan and so, in Australia, ubiquitous background exposure due to environmental sources is low. This means that body burden can be influenced by an individual’s use of triclosan containing product. Given that triclosan containing product use is continuing, it is important that monitoring in both humans and the environment is continued and that triclosan containing products are adequately labeled so that an individual can choose to avoid exposure. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This article gives an overview of the digital printing of wool fabrics and highlights some of the most important aspects, such as the preparation and the chlorination stages of the wool fabric, prior to the pretreatment and digitalprinting stages. There is ongoing research and development both in universities and in research organizations such as CSIRO in Australia, developing alternatives to the environmentally suspect aspects of wool printing. These - such as finding alternative processes to chlorination - have only been briefly mentioned in this article. If alternatives to the important chlorination stage could be commercialized, there would be a significant production increase of wool prints by digital-printing technologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]