Oil: the Overlooked Toxic Components

This book focuses on the constituents of oil largely not covered. It discusses the effects on organisms caused by unmonitored and unregulated hydrocarbons. The recent developments in characterizing naphthenic acids in oil sands process-affected waters and in crude oils are reviewed and their effects on organisms discussed. For policy makers and regulators, oil is a nightmare scenario due to its complexity. The problems and challenges associated with such complex mixtures are discussed using interviews with those that are responsible for analyzing environmental samples, those that test the effects on organisms and those that have to make the decisions about what is monitored and how. Topic covered include: Inputs and fates; Toxic effects: definitions and modes of action; Overlooked hydrocarbon constituents; Overlooked polar constituents; and Future prospects and directions