Conramonnation Levels and human Dietary Exposure of Polychlorinatted Biphenyls(PCBs)

Abstract

Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) residues were measured in 70 marine organisms (42 species) from Korean coastal waters. The PCBs residues in the organisms varied from 0.02 to 102 ng/g dry weight. The levels in various marine organisms from Korea were lower than those found in other countries. Comparing organism groups, the highest PCBs residues were recorded in crustaceans, followed by fish, bivalves, cephalopods, gastropods and seaweeds. PCB 153, 110 and 187 were the most frequently and abundantly found in the all organisms. The result indicates that these PCBs congeners can be used as indicator PCBs to monitor PCBs contamination in various marine organisms from Korean coastal waters. The dietary intake of PCBs through the seafood consumption was 0.81 ng/kg body weight/day. The relative contributions of each organism group to the total dietary intake were, in descending order, 50.3% for fish, crustaceans (39.0%), cephalopods (4.9%), seaweeds (1.1%) and gastropods (0.2%). Lifetime cancer risk and target hazard quotient (THQ) due to the seafood consumption in the Korean population were evaluated by the equation of the US EPA risk assessment. Results indicate that the dietary intake of PCBs through the consumption of seafood from Korea seems to be safe for human health with negligible cancer and non-cancer risk.

Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) residues were measured in 70 marine organisms (42 species) from Korean coastal waters. The PCBs residues in the organisms varied from 0.02 to 102 ng/g dry weight. The levels in various marine organisms from Korea were lower than those found in other countries. Comparing organism groups, the highest PCBs residues were recorded in crustaceans, followed by fish, bivalves, cephalopods, gastropods and seaweeds. PCB 153, 110 and 187 were the most frequently and abundantly found in the all organisms. The result indicates that these PCBs congeners can be used as indicator PCBs to monitor PCBs contamination in various marine organisms from Korean coastal waters. The dietary intake of PCBs through the seafood consumption was 0.81 ng/kg body weight/day. The relative contributions of each organism group to the total dietary intake were, in descending order, 50.3% for fish, crustaceans (39.0%), cephalopods (4.9%), seaweeds (1.1%) and gastropods (0.2%). Lifetime cancer risk and target hazard quotient (THQ) due to the seafood consumption in the Korean population were evaluated by the equation of the US EPA risk assessment. Results indicate that the dietary intake of PCBs through the consumption of seafood from Korea seems to be safe for human health with negligible cancer and non-cancer risk.