Tools to increase risk assessment accuracy of lead and mercury in contaminated soils

Risklogic是一家环境咨询公司，专门从事污染工业场地的管理和分析。他们是修复被多种重金属污染的场地的专家，并开发了一种新的方法来简化这些场地对野生动物和人类的风险。然而，他们的方法需要两个假设的实验验证。第一，金属的影响通过相同的机制引起毒性，第二，影响是累加的。为了验证这些假设，我们提出，铅、无机汞和有机汞都会通过增加氧化应激或通过表观遗传机制引起心血管效应（如高血压）。我们将使用暴露于饮用水中的这些金属的大鼠来测试这些假设，无论是单独还是一起。最后，我们将研究是否有任何性别差异的反应。验证Risklogic的模型将加快这一进程，降低与城市棕地相关的补救成本，这反过来将降低负责清理的公司的成本，减轻经济负担，并有助于改善加拿大经济。

Risklogic is an environmental consulting company specializing in management and analysis of contaminated industrial sites. They are experts in remediating sites that are contaminated with multiple heavy metals and have developed a novel method for simplifying how risky these sites really are to both wildlife and humans. However, their method requires experimental validation of two assumptions. First, that the effects of metals cause toxicity through the same mechanism and second, that the effects are additive. In order to test these assumptions, we propose that lead, inorganic mercury and organic mercury all cause cardiovascular effects (e.g. high blood pressure) by increasing oxidative stress or through epigenetic mechanisms. We will test these assumptions using rats exposed in drinking water to these metals, both alone and together. Finally, we will examine whether there are any sex differences in responses. Validating Risklogic's model will accelerate the process and reduce remediation costs associated with urban brownfields which in turn will reduce the costs to companies responsible for cleanup, decrease economic burden and help improve the Canadian economy.