Toxic Emissions from a Military Test Site in the Territory of Sardinia, Italy

Mauro Cristaldi, Cristiano Foschi, Germana Szpunar, Carlo Brini, Fiorenzo Marinelli and Lucio Triolo
Additional contact information
Mauro Cristaldi: Department of Biology and Biotechnologies "C. Darwin", Sapienza University of Rome, via A. Borelli 50, Rome 00161, Italy
Cristiano Foschi: Department of Biology and Biotechnologies "C. Darwin", Sapienza University of Rome, via A. Borelli 50, Rome 00161, Italy
Germana Szpunar: Department of Biology and Biotechnologies "C. Darwin", Sapienza University of Rome, via A. Borelli 50, Rome 00161, Italy
Carlo Brini: Formerly with Veterinary Service of Local Health Agency, Biella 13900, Italy
Fiorenzo Marinelli: Molecular Genetic Institute of Research National Council at I.O. Rizzoli, c/o Istituto Ortopedico Rizzoli-via di Barbiano 1/10, Bologna 40136, Italy
Lucio Triolo: Formerly with BAS-SIC (Environmental and Health Safety Lab.), ENEA-Casaccia, Rome 00123, Italy

IJERPH, 2013, vol. 10, issue 4, 1-16

Abstract: This work assesses the environmental impact from chemical emissions due to military tests and routine activities in the area occupied by the Italian Inter-force Test Range (PISQ), located at Salto di Quirra, Sardinia, Italy. After reviewing the military activities carried out at PISQ, such as rocket launching, blasting and armament destruction, projectile and mortar fire impact, the associated pollution is evaluated. Chemical analyses were performed by means of Scanning Electronic Microscopy and Energy Dispersion Spectrometry on biotic and abiotic matrices. Residues of Rb, Tl, W, Ti and Al were found in matrices collected in the PISQ areas and environs. A review of experimental data on air, water, soil, milk, forage and animal tissues obtained by various Public Agencies of Sardinia proved that toxic element residues often exceeded the legal limits. PM 10 and PM 2.5 air concentrations also exceeded the legal limits after military blasting. Cd and Pb contents in the liver and kidneys of sheep living in farms at PISQ and in control farms that were located more than 20 km away from PISQ were higher than the legal limits. This work was performed to investigate concentration of xenobiotics in ecosystems emitted from PISQ activities. This assessment could be useful to focus future epidemiological studies carried out in PISQ and its neighbouring areas.

Keywords: military areas; pollution; Sardinia; ecotoxicologal effects; epidemiological data (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/10/4/1631/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/10/4/1631/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:10:y:2013:i:4:p:1631-1646:d:25140

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().