• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.11-17
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• 2000

There are among the most relevant toxic emissions from incinerators such as polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDDs), polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDFs), dioxin-like polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). Induction of cytochrome P4501A1 catalyzed 7-ethoxyresorufin O-deethylase(EROD) activity in mammalian cell culture(EROD bioassay) is thought to be a selective and sensitive parameter used for the quantification of dioxin-like components. In this study, the toxic emissions from several school waste incinerators were evaluated by determination of CYPIA catalytic activity and cytotoxicity using cell culture microbioassay. The incinerator residue and soil samples were collected from the schools located in Kyunggi province from April to June 1999. The samples were extracted in a Soxhlet apparatus using toluene for 20 hours. In order to clean-up, concentrated crude extracts were applied to basic alumina column. The EROD activities of extracts in the H4IIE cells were from 1.91$\pm$0.32 ng-TEQ/g to 24.54$\pm$3.48 ng-TEQ/g of biochemical-TEQ value. In soil samples, CYP1A catalytic activity was 0.09~0.64 ng-TEQ/g. EROD bioassay, seems to be a useful short-term bioassay when information about the biological response of complex environmental samples is needed. Although further study is needed, these results indicate that the potent toxic emissions are produced from school waste semi-incinerators.