Some well - known (and very hazardous) examples
of organohalogens include PCBs, DDT, and CFCs (chlorofluorocarbons)-- all of which are now globally banned by the United Nation's Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) treaty.
Production
of organohalogens by microorganisms has to be taken into account for the study of halogen cycling in atmospheric chemistry as well.
«Our results shows that we still have more to learn about the formation
of organohalogens,» concludes Fayolle.
Not exact matches
«Finding the
organohalogen Freon - 40 near these young, Sun - like stars was surprising,» said Edith Fayolle, a researcher with the Harvard - Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Massachusetts in the USA, and lead author
of the new paper.
The new ALMA observation is the first detection ever
of a stable
organohalogen in interstellar space.
This supports the idea that a young planetary system can inherit the chemical composition
of its parent star - forming cloud and opens up the possibility that
organohalogens could arrive on planets in young systems during planet formation or via comet impacts.
This suggests that astronomers may have had things around the wrong way; rather than indicating the presence
of existing life,
organohalogens may be an important element in the little - understood chemistry involved in the origin
of life.
«Based on our discovery,
organohalogens are likely to be a constituent
of the so - called «primordial soup», both on the young Earth and on nascent rocky exoplanets.»
Although specific microbial halogenation reactions have been recognized for decades and the link between the dehalogenation
of anthropogenic halogenated contaminants in laboratory cultures and contaminated field sites has been well established, only a few studies specifically looked at pristine ecosystems and the genetic potential for microbial degradation
of naturally occurring
organohalogens, Kappler says.
Assumptions that halogens are inert and that most halogenated organic matter in soils is anthropogenic have been challenged by findings
of naturally formed
organohalogens.
Specifically, Blum worries about the health impacts
of new
organohalogens (like Firemaster 550, a popular alternative to pentaPBDE) because its compositional specifics are hidden behind patent laws.
«We can have pounds
of these in
organohalogens in our consumer products in our homes»
Kristin Møller Gabrielsen
of the Norwegian University
of Science and Technology in Trondheim and colleagues report in the journal Environmental Research that they examined the liver, muscle and kidney tissues taken from seven polar bears killed by Inuit hunters in East Greenland in 2011 and analysed the effect
of more than 50 contaminants in plasma samples from Ursus maritimus, to see what effect
organohalogen compounds could have on the bears» thyroid systems.