Toxicity of Environmental Contaminants: Use of Battery of Standard Biological Assays

Environmental pollution had increased greatly due to fast urbanization and industrialization resulting in release of toxic compounds into the surrounding. Traditionally, physical and chemical parameters were used to detect these toxic compounds in the environment. Besides these it is also essential to study new assays to understand biological responses of undesirable compounds on living systems. Combination of all the methods will provide new prospects for integrated strategies for environmental and risk assessment. Bioanalytical techniques have become a rapidly emerging branch of environmental sciences. Therefore, the present communication deals with emerging environmental pollutants and bioanalytical tools for in situ environmental monitoring.

Keywords: Animal Bioassay, Bacterial Bioassays, Bioassays, Biomarkers, Carcinogenicity, Chemical Analysis, Ecological Risk Assessment, Environmental Pollution, Environmental Pollutants, Heavy Metals, Mutagencity, Plant Bioassays, Risk Assessment, Toxicity, Xenobiotics.