Richardson et al. (16) have addressed the impact of hyphenated techniques and multispectral analysis on this issue. Figure 4 shows the multispectral identification of aldehydes in municipal effluent. Total ion current GC/MS and GC/FT-IR spectroscopy were used along with low- and high-resolution electron impact and chemical ionization MS to identify eight straight-chain aldehydes in a water sample taken from the overflow pipe of a municipal sewer line that contained a combination of industrial and domestic sewage. The appearance of s t r a i g h t chain aldehydes was unexpected and considered significant. Such aldehydes could arise from bacterial metabolism or from ozonolysis of drinking water (a t r e a t m e n t c u r r e n t l y being considered to replace chlorination in the United States and already widely used in Germany). Concern about the presence and identification of aldehydes stems from studies showing that they cause nerve damage in animals, especially those with diabetes. The exact identification of these compounds could not have been made without the use of the combined chromatographic and spectral techniques and t h e availability of spectral reference data banks. Thus the multispectral approach has great potential in the field of environmental analytical chemistry, and it is actively supported by the EPA labs (4, 5, 17).
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Risk assessment
In light of the tremendous current capabilities of analytical science and the inherent difficulties in realizing those capabilities in a reliable manner, how can we reach a balance between our ability to measure and our a s s e s s m e n t of the e n v i r o n m e n t a l risk? Robert M. White, president of the National Academy of Engineering, recently stated that the impact of technological innovation can lead to a greater ability to detect and analyze, or it can bring about wholly new processes or products (18). The new analytical understanding helps in the development of processing changes to lower emissions or contaminants. He argues in a very persuasive analysis that "There is a cyclical n a t u r e to the evolution of technology and the environmental c h a l l e n g e s we face — t e c h n o l o g y shapes society and society shapes technology." An example is in the history of lead pollution. The presence of lead in air and water was the result of the burning of coal; the metallurgical indus-
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ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY, VOL 64, NO. 13, JULY 1, 1992 · 681 A
