Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Figure3.2
Endocrinedisrupters
will pose a problem to human health in drinking water, although this does
not address the problem affecting hormone susceptible organisms living in
contaminated water and thus exposed to this potential hazard.
Ongoing discoveries
Almost daily, there are novel bacteria being reported in the literature which
have been shown to have the capacity to degrade certain xenobiots. Presumably
the mutation which occurred during the evolution of the organism conferred an
advantage, and selective pressure maintained that mutation in the DNA, thus pro-
ducing a novel strain with an altered phenotype. Some examples of such isolates
are described here. Reference has already been made to some PAHs mimicking
oestrogen which earns those chemicals the title of 'endocrine disrupters'. This is
in addition to some being toxic for other reasons and some being carcinogenic
or teratogenic. The PAHs are derived primarily from the petrochemicals industry
and are polycyclic hydrocarbons of three or more rings which include as mem-
bers, naphthalene and phenanthrene and historically have been associated with
offshore drilling, along with alkylphenols. Several genera of bacteria are now
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