Biomonitoring of Electronic Waste Polluted Environment

The environment is polluted by different wastes, while informal recycling of e-wastes is a major source of environmental pollution. These wastes include organic and inorganic compounds along with heavy metals and trace elements. These pollutants have a negative effect on living organisms, i.e., human, animals, and plants. Living organisms are used as biomonitoring agents to measure the level of e-wastes or pollutant in their bodies. Biomonitoring tells us about the sources, amount, geographical distribution, and harmful effects of contaminant. Biomonitoring involves the indicator species of plants, animals, and humans. This chapter is focused on human and animal species. Various bioindicators of the human such as blood/serum, hair, urine, breast milk, and nail have been used to monitor the exposure to e-wastes. Blood is the best bioindicator because it circulates throughout the body and has contact with all tissues. Different species of vertebrates such as chickens, ducks, fish, frogs, and mice have been studied for the measurement of e-wastes in their bodies. E-wastes were abundantly found in the muscles and liver of mice, chicken, duck, and frogs as well as in chicken’s egg. The high concentrations of these wastes in animals such as chicken are negatively correlated with human health.