Parts-per-trillion levels of polychlorinated dibenzofurans found in the edible portion of selected fish

Conference · Thu Sep 01 04:00:00 EDT 1988 · Preprints of Papers Presented at National Meeting, Division of Water, Air and Waste Chemistry, American Chemical Society; (USA)

OSTI ID:7266236

Gardner, A M; White, K D ^[1]

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1. Food and Drug Administration, Washington, DC (USA)

Polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDFs) are a class of man-made chemicals consisting of 135 possible congeners. Trace concentrations of some PCDFs are environmental pollutants, originating from the incineration of chlorinated aromatic wastes or from impurities in other pollutants such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) or chlorinated phenols and their esters. Toxicity reports indicate that biological activity is congener dependent. Because of the toxicity and potential for widespread environmental contamination the PCDFs must be regarded as significantly hazards. PCDFs have been reported previously as contaminants in several fish species found in either salt water or most often in estuaries, lakes and rivers. Reported levels for individual PCDF congeners ranged from 0.7 to 145 ppt but rarely exceeded 100 ppt. The PCDFs in fish have been attributed to contamination of water and sediment with PCBs, chlorinated phenols or incinerator fly ash. Most reports on PCDFs in fish either show analyses of other fish parts in combination with the fillet, or do not specifically identify all PCDF humans; i.e., the fillet. Fish were selected for their known or suspected PCB content or because they were caught at sites of known PCDF contamination. In this work they examine the levels of tri- through octa-CDFs in the skinless fillet of fish, using methodology which effectively isolates and quantitates the PCDFs at ppt. The method was modified for more rapid extraction. Average recoveries of six PCDFs fortified in fish at the 100 ppt level ranged from 93% to 117%. Thirty-five fish from nine species in eight localities in the US were analyzed.

• OSTI ID: 7266236
• Report Number(s): CONF-8809264--
• Conference Information: Journal Name: Preprints of Papers Presented at National Meeting, Division of Water, Air and Waste Chemistry, American Chemical Society; (USA) Journal Volume: 28:2
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
540320 -- Environment
Aquatic-- Chemicals Monitoring & Transport-- (1990-)
560300* -- Chemicals Metabolism & Toxicology
63 RADIATION, THERMAL, AND OTHER ENVIRON. POLLUTANT EFFECTS ON LIVING ORGS. AND BIOL. MAT.
ANIMALS
AQUATIC ORGANISMS
AROMATICS
BENZOFURANS
BIOLOGICAL ACCUMULATION
CHEMICAL ANALYSIS
CHLORINATED AROMATIC HYDROCARBONS
CONTAMINATION
FISHES
FURANS
HALOGENATED AROMATIC HYDROCARBONS
HETEROCYCLIC COMPOUNDS
METABOLISM
ORGANIC CHLORINE COMPOUNDS
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
ORGANIC HALOGEN COMPOUNDS
ORGANIC OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
POLLUTION
QUANTITATIVE CHEMICAL ANALYSIS
TOXICITY
TRACE AMOUNTS
VERTEBRATES
WATER POLLUTION