ABSTRACT
The British Petroleum (BP) oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, the coal ash spill in Eastern Tennessee, and the wildˆres near Flagstaff, Arizona, and in California share one thing in common. These environmental disasters spew a family of toxicants called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) into the environment. PAHs are a family of ubiquitous environmental contaminants that consist of more than 100 chemicals. The structures of some commonly encountered PAHs are shown in Figure 5.1.
