SCOPE 31

Lead, Mercury, Cadmium and Arsenicin the Environment

Executive Committee of SCOPE

President: Professor J. M. W. La Riviere, International Institute for Hy-draulic and Environmental Engineering, Oude Delft 95, PO Box 3015,2601 DA Delft, The Netherlands.

Past-President: Professor R. O. Slayter, Department of Environmental Bi-ology, Australian National University, PO Box 475, Canberra ACT 2601,Australia.

Vice-President: Professor C. R. Krishna Murti, Scientific Commission forContinuing Studies on Effects of Bhopal Gas Leakage, Cabinet Secre-tariat, Sadar Patel Bhavan, Parliament St., New Delhi 110001, India.

Secretary-General: Professor T. RosswalI, Department of Water in Environ-ment and Society, University of Linkoping, S-581 83 Linkoping, Sweden.

Treasurer: Sir Frederick Warner, FRS, 11 Spring Chase, BrightIingsea, EssexC07 OJR, UK.

Members

Dr. F. di Castri, CNRS/Centre d'Etudes Phytosociologiques et EcologiquesLouis Emberger (CEPE), Route de Mende, B. P. 5051,34033 MontpeIIierCedex, France.

Dr. P. J. Crutzen, Air Chemistry Department, Max Planck Institute forChemistry, Postfach 3060, D-6500 Mainz, F.G.R.

Dr. M. V. Ivanov, Institute of Microbiology, U.S.S.R. Academy of Sciences,GSP-7 Prospekt 60 letija Oltjabrja 7-2, Moscow, U.S.S.R.

Professor M. J. Kostrowicki, Institute of Geography, Polish Academy ofSciences, Warsaw, Poland.

Professor H. A. Mooney, Department of Biological Sciences, Stanford Uni-versity, Stanford, CA 94305-2493, U.S.A.

Editor-in-Chief

Professor R. E. Munn, IIASA, Schlossplatzl,A-23651, Laxenburg, Austria.

SCOPE 31

Lead, Mercury, Cadmiumand Arsenic in the

Environment

Edited byT. C. Hutchinson

and

K. M. MeemaInstitute for Environmental Studies

University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Published on behalf of theScientific Committee on Problems of the Environment (SCOPE)

of theinternational Council of Scientific Unions (lCSU)

byJOHN WILEY & SONS

Chichester. New York. Brisbane. Toronto. Singapore

Copyright @ 1987 by theScientific Committee on Problems of the Environment (SCOPE)

Reprinted March 1996

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced by any means, ortransmitted, or translated into a machine languagewithout the written permission of the copyright holder.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:

Lead, Mercury, Cadmium and Arsenic in the Environment.(SCOPE: 31)Includes Index.

\. Lead-Environmental Aspects. 2. Mercury-EnvironmentalAspects. 3. Cadmium-Environmental Aspects. 4. Arsenic-EnvironmentalAspects. 5. Environmental Chemistry. I. Hutchinson, T. C.(Thomas C.), 1939- . ]1. Meema, K. M. III. ]nternational Council ofScientific Unions. Scientific Committee on Problems of the Environmment.IV. Series: SCOPE (Series); 31.TD196.L4023 363.7'384 86-9199ISBN 0 47] 91126 7

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data:

Lead, Mercury, Cadmium and Arsenic in the Environment.-(SCOPE: 31)\. PollutionI. Hutchinson, Thomas C. II. Meema, K. M.III. International Council of Scientific Unions

ScienJific Committee on Problems of the EnvironmentIV. Series

363.7'384 TD196.C45ISBN 0 471 91126 7

Printed and bound in Great Britain by Antony Rowe ltd, Chippenham, Wiltshite

Global Environmental Monitoring 1971,68 pp (out of print)

Man-Made Lakes as Modified Ecosystems, 1972, 76 pp (out ofprint)

Global Environmental Monitoring Systems (GEMS): ActionPlan for Phase I, 1973, 132 pp (out of print)

Environmental Sciences in Developing Countries, 1974, 72 pp(out of print)

Environment and Development, proceedings of SCOPEIuNEP Symposiumon Environmental Sciences in Developing Countries, Nairobi, February 11-23, 1974,418 pp (out of print).

SCOPE 5: Environmental Impact Assessment: Principles and Procedures,Second Edition, 1979,208 pp

SCOPE 6: Environmental Pollutants: Selected Analytical Methods, 1975,277 pp (available from Butterworth & Co. (Publishers) Ltd,Sevenoaks, Kent, England (out of print)

SCOPE 7: Nitrogen, Phosphorus and Sulphur: Global Cycles, 1975,192 pp (available from Dr Thomas Rosswall, Swedish NaturalScience Research Council, Stockholm, Sweden) (out of print)

SCOPE 8: Risk Assessment of Environmental Hazard, 1978, 132 pp

SCOPE 9: Simulation Modelling of Environmental Problems, 1978,128 pp (out of print)

Environmental Issues, 1977, 242 pp

Shelter Provision in Developing Countries, 1978, 112 pp

Principles of Ecotoxicology, 1978, 372 pp

The Global Carbon Cycle, 1979, 491 pp

SCOPE 1:

SCOPE 2:

SCOPE 3:

SCOPE 4:

SCOPE 10:

SCOPE 11:

SCOPE 12:

SCOPE 13:

SCOPE 14:

SCOPE 15:

SCOPE 16:

SCOPE 17:

Saharan Dust: Mobilization, Transport, Deposition, 1979,320 pp

Environmental Risk Assessment, 1980, 176 pp

Carbon Cycle Modelling, 1981,404 pp

Some Perspectives of the Major Biogeochemical Cycles, 1981,175 pp

SCOPE 18: The Role of Fire in Northern Circumpolar Ecosystems, 1983,344 pp

SCOPE 19: The Global Biogeochemical Sulphur Cycle, 1983, 495 pp

v

vi Lead, Mercury, Cadmium and Arsenic in the Environment

SCOPE 20: Methods for Assessing the Effects of Chemicals on Reproduc-tive Functions, 1983, 568 pp

SCOPE 21: The Major Biogeochemical Cycles and Their Interactions,1983, 554 pp

SCOPE 22: Effects of Pollutants at the Ecosystem Level, 1984, 443 pp

SCOPE 23: The Role of Terrestrial Vegetation in the Global Carbon Cycle:Measurement by Remote Sensing, 1984, 272 pp

SCOPE 24: Noise Pollution, 1986

SCOPE 25: Appraisal of Tests to Predict the Environmental Behaviour ofChemicals, 1985, 400 pp

SCOPE 26: Methods for Estimating Risks of Chemical Injury: Human andNon-human Biota, 1985, 712 pp

SCOPE 27: Climate Impact Assessment: Studies of the Interaction ofClimate and Society, 1985, 649 pp

SCOPE 28: Environmental Consequences of Nuclear WarVolume I Physical, 1986, 342 ppVolume II Ecological and Agricultural Effects, 1985,523 pp

The Greenhouse Effect, Climatic Change, and Ecosystems,1986,576 pp

SCOPE 30: Methods for Assessing the Effects of Mixtures of Chemicals,1987,928 pp

SCOPE 29:

SCOPE 31: Occurrence and Pathways of Lead, Mercury, Cadmium andArsenic in the Environment, 1987,384 pp

Funds to meet SCOPE expenses are provided by contributions from SCOPENational Committees, an annual subvention from ICSU (and through ICS~,from UNESCO), an annual subvention from the French Ministere del'Environment et du Cadre de Vie, contracts with UN Bodies, particularlyUNEP, and grants from Foundations and industrial enterprises.

-.. ..- u.. .u- -- ... -.

International Council of Scientific Unions (ICSU)Scientific Committee on Problems of the Environment (SCOPE)

SCOPE is one of a number of committees established by the nongovern-mental group of scientific organizations, the International Council of Sci-entific Unions (lCSU). The membership of ICSU includes representativesfrom 68 National Academies of Science, 18 International Unions and 12other bodies called Scientific Associates. To cover multidisciplinary activi-ties which include the interests of several unions, ICSU has established 10Scientific Committees, of which SCOPE is one. Currently representatives of34 member countries and 15 Unions and Scientific Committees participatein the work of SCOPE, which directs particular attention to the needs ofdeveloping countries. SCOPE was established in 1969 in response to theenvironmental concerns emerging at that time: ICSU recognized that manyof these concerns required scientific inputs spanning several disciplines andICSU Unions. SCOPE's first task was to prepare a report on Global Envi-ronmental Monitoring (SCOPE 1, 1971) for the UN Stockholm Conferenceon the Human Environment.

The mandate of SCOPE is to assemble, review, and assess the informa-tion available on man-made environmental changes and the effects of thesechanges on man; to assess and evaluate the methodologies of measurementof environmental parameters; to provide an intelligence service on currentresearch; and by the recruitment of the best available scientific informationand constructive thinking to establish itself as a corpus of informed advicefor the benefit of centres of fundamental research and of organizations andagencies operationally engaged in studies of the environment.

SCOPE is governed by a General Assembly, which meets every threeyears. Between such meetings its activities are directed by the ExecutiveCommittee.

R. E. MunnEditor-in-ChiefSCOPE Publications

Executive Secretary: V. PloC'q

Secretariat: 51BiddeMontmorency75016 PARIS

vii