Environmental Sciences:

NAA has made significant contributions in the determination of heavy metals and other inorganic pollutants in a variety of matrices such as hair, nails, suspended particulate matter, fish, etc. NAA has been accepted as a basic analytical tool by environmentalists against its earlier recognition as a nuclear technique. INAA has been used for analyzing hair and fish to monitor occupational exposure and aquatic environmental pollution. A large population exposed to subsoil water contaminated with arsenic showed clinical features of arsenic toxicity called arsenicosis. On the other hand airborne particulate matter (PM) from industrial and vehicular emissions has been associated with a wide variety of environmental problems including detrimental health effects. There could be different aspects of such studies where biosphere and urban/industrial monitoring could be carried out by analyzing hair, air/water/soil or fish. Analysis of fish from coastal areas of Indian Ocean has shown significant differences in elemental contents which are attributable to industrial activity in that region.