Dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans in human breast milk collected in the area of Taranto (Southern Italy): first case study

Abstract

We report on the content of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDDs) and polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDFs) in 15 breast milk samples of nursing women living in the city of Taranto (Southern, Italy) or nearby. Breast milk samples were collected over the 2008-2009 period and analyzed by gas chromatography coupled with high-resolution mass spectrometry (GC-HRMS) upon accelerated solvent extraction (ASE) using acetone/n-hexane mixture 1:1 (v/v). The method was validated demonstrating good performing features. Profiles of PCDD/PCDF congeners in breast milk samples exhibited a prevalence of PCDFs compared to PCDDs. Toxic equivalents (TEQs in picogram per gram fat) of four breast milk were far above the legal limit for human consumption of 3.0 pg/g; their estimated daily and weekly dietary intake were almost 5-20 and 10-40 times higher, respectively, than the tolerable intake values established by the World Health Organization.

A General Model of Dioxin Contamination in Breast Milk: Results from a Study on 94 Women from the Caserta and Naples Areas in Italy

“…Finally, the possibility of dioxins and dl-PCBs intake by newborns through maternal milk should be considered as already suggested by a recently published paper of Bianco et al [55]. Consistently with a study carried out in a German industrial area [53], the mean daily intake of milk contaminants (PCDDs, PCDFs, and dl-PCBs) by the newborns through maternal milk was in our study estimated at about 90.4 pg WHO-TEQ98/kg body weight/day, while the WHO maximum acceptable threshold is 20 pg for a 5 kg baby (1–4 pg WHO-TEQ98/kg body weight/day).…”

Incidence of Breast, Prostate, Testicular, and Thyroid Cancer in Italian Contaminated Sites with Presence of Substances with Endocrine Disrupting Properties

“…The available data are related to the presence of the substances in the various environmental matrices, not necessarily to their concentrations. The existence of human biomonitoring data (blood, serum, and milk) reporting high levels of endocrine disrupting chemicals and other monitoring data (food and plants) regarding the NPCSs was verified by a search in PubMed [39,40,41,42,43,44,45,46,47,48,49,50,51,52]. …”

Geology of Mar Piccolo, Taranto (southern Italy): the physical basis for remediation of a polluted marine area

“…in the residents around the Taranto industrial district (Pirastu et al, 2013). Recent studies carried out on breast milk sampled in nursing women living in the Taranto area show a content of dioxins which is 10-40 times higher than the tolerable intake values established by the World Health Organization (Bianco et al, 2013). Water and sediment of the Mar Piccolo area record organic pollution (polychlorinated biphenyls -PCBs, and parent polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, Cardellicchio et al, 2007) and high heavy metal concentrations (Cd, Cu, Hg, Pb, Sn, Zn, etc., Buccolieri et al, 2006;Calace et al, 2005;De Marco, Dimuccio, Mastronuzzi, Mazzarella, & Sergio, 2004).…”