The concentrations of total mercury, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), and organochlorine pesticides (SigmaDDT, dieldrin, hexachlorobenzene [HCB], and SigmaHCH) were determined in 61 whale meat products (bacon, blubber, red meat, liver, intestine, and tongue) purchased from retail outlets across Japan. Mean (range) concentrations of contaminants in all samples were: total mercury 4.17 (0.01-204...

Concentrations of polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), and organochlorine pesticides (OCPs; DDTs, HCHs, CHLs, and HCB) were measured in human breast milk samples collected across Massachusetts, USA, in 2004. Seventeen PBDE congeners were found in the samples, ranging in concentration from 0.06 to 1910 ng g(-1) lipid wt. BDE-47 (2,2',4,4'-tetraBDE), BDE-99 (2,2',4,4',5-pentaBDE), and BDE-100 ...

Although it has been documented that wildlife in the Rio Grande Valley (RGV) contain increased concentrations of organochlorine (OC) contaminants, particularly DDE, little has been published on residues of toxaphene throughout this major North American watershed. In this study, 28 liver composites from adult swallows (Petrochelidon spp.) collected along the Rio Grande from 1999 through 2000 wer...

Nanoscale iron particles represent a new generation of environmental remediation technologies that could provide cost-effective solutions to some of the most challenging environmental cleanup problems. Nanoscale iron particles have large surface areas and high surface reactivity. Equally important, they provide enormous flexibility for in situ applications. Research has shown that nanoscale iro...

Alzheimer's dis ease (AD) is a leading cause of mortality in the developed world with 70% risk attributable to genetics. The remaining 30% of AD risk is hypothesized to include environmental factors and human lifestyle patterns. Environmental factors possibly include inorganic and organic hazards, exposure to toxic metals (aluminium, copper), pesticides (organochlorine and organophosphate insec...

Extensive damage to organisms and declines in wildlife populations have been observed together with long-term bioaccumulation and biomagnification of persistent xenobiotic chemicals. Heavy metals, especially organic or biomethylated mercury, lead, cadmium and organic tin compounds have caused environmental damage through bioaccumulation on a local scale. Effects on wildife caused by bioaccumula...

Contaminant dynamics in arctic marine food webs may be impacted by current climate-induced food web changes including increases in transient/subarctic species. We quantified food web organochlorine transfer in the Cumberland Sound (Nunavut, Canada) arctic marine food web in the presence of transient species using species-specific biomagnification factors (BMFs), trophic magnification factors (T...

Seven pairs of southern elephant seals (Mirounga leonina) pups and their dams were sampled during the late weaning season among a breeding population of seals on Elephant Island in Antarctica. The blubber of the pups and the milk and blubber of their dams were analyzed for lipid-normalized concentrations of PCBs and organochlorines compounds in order to evaluate the lactational transfer of thes...

The fate of chiral organochlorine compounds (OCs) and selected metabolites in exposed Arctic char (Salvelinus alpinus) was investigated. The contaminants alpha-hexachlorocyclohexane (alpha-HCH), cis-chlordane, 13C4-heptachlor, o,p'-DDT, and the atropisomeric chlorinated biphenyls (CBs) 95, 132, 136, 149, and 174 were solved in peanut oil and injected into the peritoneal cavity. The exposed fish...

Organochlorine contaminants (OCs) were determined in liver and fat of seven species of seabirds (Alle alle, Uria lomvia, Cepphus grylle, Rissa tridactyla, Pagophila eburnea, Larus hyperboreus, and Fulmaris glacialis) collected in May/June 1998 from the Northwater Polynya in northern Baffin Bay. OC concentrations ranged over an order of magnitude between seabird species and OC groups, with PCBs ...