This project aims to strengthen global chemical policy by rapidly identifying chemicals that demonstrate environmental persistence and mobility, two requisite risk criteria for regulatory action. It will take the novel approach of applying powerful non-target chemical screening approaches to Antarctic environmental media, leveraging the remoteness of Antarctica to derive unambiguous evidence against the key risk criteria. Research will uncover a new catalogue of proven persistent and mobile chemicals, and further assess their ubiquity and biomagnification potential in the Antarctic system. Project findings will be directly disseminated to policymakers, facilitating expedited regulatory decision-making for improved Planetary Health outcomes.
Research Outcomes
The project team has preliminarily identified chemicals of priority concerns in the Antarctica area. Relevant experiment plans are currently under discussion for analysing the samples collected and archived.
A postdoc and a PhD student have been working on the project work. The critical analytical methodology has been validated and the first batch of samples have been analysed.
The postdoc has completed a successful visiting trip in NILU where she was trained on non-target analysis of air pollutants in Antarctica passive air samples. Sample analysis is completed and data processing is in progress.
