Tongtong Xiang, Chunzhen Shi, Yunhe Guo, Jie Zhang, Weicui Min, Jiazheng Sun, Jifu Liu, Xiliang Yan, Yanna Liu, Linlin Yao, Yuxiang Mao, Xiaoxi Yang, Jianbo Shi, Bing Yan, Guangbo Qu, Guibin Jiang
The safety of municipal sewage sludge has raised great concerns because of the accumulation of large-scale endocrine disrupting chemicals in the sludge during wastewater treatment. The presence of contaminants in sludge can cause secondary pollution owing to inappropriate disposal mechanisms, posing potential risks to the environment and human health. Effect-directed analysis (EDA), involving an androgen receptor (AR) reporter gene bioassay, fractionation, and suspect and nontarget chemical analysis, were applied to identify causal AR agonists in sludge; 20 of the 30 sludge extracts exhibited significant androgenic activity...
April 20, 2024: Water Research