Activated Carbon Traps Pollutants in Marine Sediment.

The article reports on the research conducted by Richard Luthy, professor at Stanford University, to assess the significance of activated carbon to the marine sediment contaminated with polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBS) in San Francisco, California. They worked at a Superfund site in San Francisco Bay and proved that by adding activated carbon to the specimen can help prevent the toxic chemicals from entering the food chain. It revealed that PCBS posed a great environmental problem because of their harmful effects where they do not mix well with water, so when they enter a body of water from a landfill, they become attached to the sediment. It states that once worms and other organisms ingest this chemical, they begin to accumulate in their bodies and PCBS will work up the food chain.