A holistic approach to distribution, ecotoxicology, and human health risk of potentially hazardous emerging pollutants along the Egyptian Mediterranean coast: Univariate and multivariate analyses

This study examines pollution, ecotoxicological, and health risks of B, F, and S in seawater and sediments along the southern Mediterranean Sea. Strong positive loading on B in sediment, PLI, and NPI suggested that the high B content raises the total amount of contamination and cumulative risks to benthic organisms. Logk_d for S and F were <3 indicating that they were easily transported to the water column. While, B has potential to be released to seawater (3 < Logk_d < 4), which potentially endanger benthic organisms. Human health risk associated with the current exposure to B, F, and S in sediments was not notable (THQS < 1), but there is still cause for concern, particularly given the remarkable health risk associated with the oral ingestion of F and B from seawater (HQW_Ing > 1). Toxicological investigations of short-term and long-term exposure explored potentially high ecotoxicological risks among aquatic organisms, invertebrates were the most sensitive species.