To evaluate environmental changes in the Antarctic Ocean, concentrations of organochlorines (PCBs, DDTs, HCHs, HCB and CHLs) were determined in the blubber of the mature males of Antarctic minke whales, Balaenoptera bonaerensis, (from 21 to 25 years) from the Antarctic Areas IV and V. The ranges of concentrations for each compound were, in ng/g fat wt: PCBs, 7.7-89; DDTs, 29-340; HCHs, 0.20-4.3...

Organochlorine contaminants, includng polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), chlorinated bornanes (CHBs), dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethanes (DDTs), chlordanes (CHLORs), hexachlorocyclohexanes (HCHs) and, chlorobenzenes (CBZs) were quantified in 188 harbour porpoises (Phocoenaphocoena) killed in commercial fisheries in the coastal waters of the Avalon Peninsula, Newfoundland (n = 29), the Gaspe Peni...

Concentrations in surface waters (including particulate phase) of the River Chenab ranged from 27-1100 ng L(-1) and 25-1200 ng L(-1) for OCPs and 7.7-110 ng L(-1) and 13-99 ng L(-1) for PCBs during summer and winter, respectively from 2007-2009. DDTs exhibited the highest concentration, followed by HCHs > chlordane > ∑(24)PCBs > ∑other OCPs. Different indicative ratios for organochlorines sugge...

The diet of the breast-feeding mother impacts on the quality and quantity of the milk that she feeds her child. Milk can be a vehicle for toxins, such as drugs and their metabolites, viruses, nicotine, caffeine, alcohol, and organochlorine molecules such as PCBs, DDT, HCB, HCH and dioxins, which can harm the health of the breast-feeding child. The 24-h recall diet was considered appropriate to ...

Introduction. Monitoring of organohalogens in the glaucous gull (Larus hyperboreus) has been given high priority in Svalbard (Norwegian Arctic). Glaucous gulls are distributed widely in the Arctic and are an important avian scavenger-predator in the marine food web. Thus far among circumpolar arctic seabirds, glaucous gulls from Svalbard are reported to accumulate some of the highest concentrat...

Ringed seals collected from the Kara Sea in the Russian Arctic during 1995 were analyzed for persistent organochlorines (OCs) such as DDTs, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), chlordane compounds (CHLs), hexachlorocyclohexanes (HCHs), and hexachlorobenzene to understand the present status of contamination. Noticeably higher levels of DDTs and PCBs were detected in ringed seals from the Russian Ar...

Farmed Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) from Maine and eastern Canada, wild Alaskan Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha), and organically farmed Norwegian salmon samples were analyzed for the presence of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), dioxin-like PCBs, polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDDs), dibenzo-p-furans (PCDFs), and chlorinated pesticides. PCDD and PCDF congeners were not detected ...

The Irrawaddy dolphin (Orcaella brevirostris) is at risk of extinction throughout its range as a result of incidental catches, habitat degradation, and pollution. Populations of Irrawaddy dolphins are constrained by the species' narrow habitat requirement-lagoons, estuaries, rivers, and lakes-and are therefore particularly vulnerable to the effects of human activities. In this study, for the fi...

Nitrogen and carbon stable isotope signatures in growing hair reveal that while some British Columbia grizzly bears (Ursus arctos horribilis) rely entirely on terrestrial foods, others switch in late summer to returning Pacific salmon (Oncorynchus spp.). Implications for persistent organic pollutant (POP) concentrations and patterns measured in the two feeding groups of grizzly bears were profo...

The present study investigated the current contamination status and evaluated several kinetic-related features of organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) and PCBs in human breast milk collected from northern Vietnam. The variation in the levels of these contaminants was found to be strongly associated with total lactation time and dietary habits. OCPs exhibited the characteristics of steadily declinin...