Macro-analytical methods used to analyze tissues of the Hawaiian monk seal, Monachus schauinslandi, for organochlorine pesticides, polychlorobiphenyls, and pentachlorophenol
Among the specimens which were processed as the results of poisoning incidents, were tissues of an adult male Hawaiian monk seal, Monachus schauinslandi, which had died while in captivity without known cause. Various tissues of the animal were analyzed to determine whether the death of the monk seal had any connection with exposures to environmental pesticides or pollutants, particularly to organochlorine compounds. The specimens included urine, parts of liver, lung and blubber, an entire testis, and an entire kidney. Solid tissues from the animal were from correspondingly large organs. Macro methods for representative analyses of these tissues for multiresidues of organochlorine pesticides, polychlorobiphenyls (PCBs) and pentachlorophenol (PCP) were devised. Results are tabulated. The death of the Hawaiian monk seal could not be attributed conclusively to the organochlorines and pentachlorophenol that were found in tissues of this mammal. Baseline (normal) data of residue levels for these pollutants in animal tissues in Hawaii are so limited that pathogenic levels in the fauna cannot be predicted. It is difficult to even speculate whether the residues detected in the monk seal tissues were due to exposures of earth's background (ambient) atmosphere or to exposures of the mammal's immediate (specific) environment.
- Research Organization:
- Univ. of Hawaii, Honolulu
- OSTI ID:
- 5805666
- Journal Information:
- Bull. Environ. Contam. Toxicol.; (United States), Vol. 27:4
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
CHLORINATED AROMATIC HYDROCARBONS
BIOLOGICAL ACCUMULATION
AQUATIC ORGANISMS
BIOLOGICAL EFFECTS
KIDNEYS
LIVER
LUNGS
MAMMALS
PHENOLS
TESTES
TISSUES
URINE
ANIMALS
AROMATICS
BIOLOGICAL MATERIALS
BIOLOGICAL WASTES
BODY
BODY FLUIDS
DIGESTIVE SYSTEM
GLANDS
GONADS
HALOGENATED AROMATIC HYDROCARBONS
HYDROXY COMPOUNDS
MALE GENITALS
MATERIALS
ORGANIC CHLORINE COMPOUNDS
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
ORGANIC HALOGEN COMPOUNDS
ORGANS
RESPIRATORY SYSTEM
VERTEBRATES
WASTES
560305* - Chemicals Metabolism & Toxicology- Vertebrates- (-1987)