BackgroundEnvironmental pollutants are known to be ubiquitous and may present toxic effects (endocrine-disruption properties, carcinogenicity…). Therefore, they represent a real threat to human health. The aim of the present study was to assess the content of environmental pollutants (inorganic, persistent, and non-persistent pollutants) in biological samples (urine, serum, and whole blood), collected from volunteers in Kinshasa, capital of Democratic Republic of Congo, in order to estimate the exposure level in the population of Kinshasa to environmental pollutants.MethodsFrom randomly selected 15 volunteers living in Kinshasa, aged from 25 to 66 years, including 10 men and 5 women, urine, whole blood, and serum samples were used in this study to estimate the contents in these environmental pollutants, using Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry, Gas Chromatography coupled to Mass Spectrometry, and Liquid Chromatography coupled to Mass Spectrometry.ResultsWhen compared to data nationally and internationally available, the preliminary outcomes of this study indicated a high level of exposure to environmental pollutants in the population of Kinshasa, especially for arsenic, cadmium, lead, benzophenone-3, methyl-paraben, propyl-paraben, triclosan, mono-ethyl phthalate, mono-n-butyl phthalate, 3-phenoxybenzoic acid, cis-3-(2,2-dichlorovinyl)-2,2-dimethylcyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid, and for 3,5,6-trichloro-2-pyridinol. The levels of 4,4’dichloro-diphenyl-dichloro-ethylene and glyphosate were also significant although some heavily exposed populations showed higher level of contamination. In contrast, the investigated population of Kinshasa was found to weakly exposed to other pollutants like bisphenol A, dialkyl phosphates, polychlorinated biphenyls, brominated flame retardants, phenolic organo-halogens, and perfluoroalkyl substances.ConclusionAlthough the biologic fluids were collected from a limited number of volunteers (n = 15), the results of the present report clearly indicate that the population of Kinshasa is not spared by the investigated environmental pollutants.Trial registration: this study was retrospectively registered by the national health ethics committee in the Congo under the series number of 159/CNES/BN/PMMF/2020.

Background Environmental pollutants are known to be ubiquitous and may present toxic effects (endocrine-disruption properties, carcinogenicity …) and represent a real threat to human health. The aim of the present pilot study was to assess the content of environmental pollutants (inorganic, persistent, and non-persistent pollutants) in biological samples (urine, serum, and whole blood), collected from volunteers in Kinshasa, capital of Democratic Republic of Congo, in order to identify pollutants of interest and to design a protocol for a larger scale study. Methods From randomly selected 15 volunteers living in Kinshasa, aged from 25 to 66 years, (mean age = 43.4 years), including 10 men and 5 women, urine, whole blood, and serum samples were used in this study to estimate the contents in these environmental pollutants, using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry, gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry, and liquid chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry. Results When compared to data nationally and internationally available, the preliminary outcomes of this study indicated a very high level of exposure to environmental pollutants in the population of Kinshasa, especially for heavy metals, parabens and triclosan. To a lesser extent, contamination measured for glyphosate, phthalates, organochlorine pesticides, pyrethroids and dialkylphosphate pesticides was also significant. In contrast, the investigated population of Kinshasa was found to be weakly exposed to other persistent organic pollutants like polychlorinated biphenyls, brominated flame retardants, phenolic organohalogens, and perfluoroalkyl substances. Conclusion Although the biologic fluids were collected from a limited number of volunteers (n = 15), the results of the present report clearly indicate that the population of Kinshasa is not spared by the investigated environmental pollutants. Moreover, this study gives us important information to design a larger scale study protocol.