Environmental and food contamination with PCB's in Japan

Fujiwara, Kunisato

doi:10.1016/0048-9697(75)90002-9

Cited by 30 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 3 publications

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“…In addition to these two incidences, coastal contamination from local but diffuse sources has resulted in high levels of organochlorines in birds in Japan, North America, and Europe. Levels of PCB in Japanese birds, including several species of gulls, were comparable to those in industrial areas of North America and Europe (Fujiwara 1974 (Doguchi 1973).…”

Section: Maximum Amounts Of Pcb's In Eggs Of Thementioning

confidence: 78%

Exposure of marine birds to environmental pollutants / by Harry M. Ohlendorf, Robert W. Risebrough, Kees Vermeer.

Ohlendorf¹,

Risebrough²,

Vermeer³

1978

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It is unlikely that any marine birds remain uncontaminated by the synthetic organochlorine compounds that have become ubiquitous pollutants. Marine birds also are increasingly exposed to petroleum compounds as a result of the exploitation of undersea petroleum deposits, increased tanker traffic, and expansion of coastal petrochemical industries.Lethal and reproductive effects of organochlorines on marine birds have been most pronounced in coastal areas receiving effluents discharged by manufacturing plants. For example, particularly severe DDT contamination in southern California and elevated levels of dieldrin and related chemicals in the Netherlands have killed local marine birds or inhibited their reproduction.Eggshell thinning, apparently resulting from exposure to DDE, is widespread among estuarine species, and eggshells of peregrine falcons {Falco peregrinus) have become thinner in all areas of the species' range thus far studied. In more contaminated coastal areas, reproductive success of the peregrine falcon is low. Adverse effects of organochlorines on the reproduction of other species also have been found.The oihng of feathers and the associated mortality of marine birds are not the only adverse effects of oil pollution; ingestion of oil may cause death by dehydration by interfering with ion transport and water balance in the gut. Surfactants used to disperse oil spills also have serious consequences for marine birds. Dissolved oil fractions may kill or poison the biota the birds feed on. The physiological effects of the incorporation of more persistent compounds into marine food webs are unknown.Contamination of marine birds by most metals and certain trace elements has not been documented, although elevated mercury levels have been observed in birds of certain estuarine and local marine environments. The significance of elevated mercury levels and small plastic particles found in the stomachs and pellets of marine birds is not yet known.' A summary of this paper was presented at the 13-15 May 1975 international symposium on "Conservation of Marine Birds of Northern North America," in Seattle, Washington. The paper was written in 1975-76, and certain portions have been amended or updated as references were pubHshed. Proceedings of the symposium are being prepared for publication, but this paper on environmental pollutants is being published separately because of its great length and the delay in pubhcation of the entire Proceedings.(1) The largest source is the chronic dribbling of oil into the coastal zone by industrial and municipal effluents, urban runoff, and river runoff carrying oil from inland areas. A substantial amount of oil, therefore, will be discharged to the coastal zone regardless of source. This amount will increase as oil consumption increases unless control steps are taken. Evidence suggests that chronic lowlevel pollution could be potentially more damaging to ecosystems than isolated catastrophic spills (Evans and Rice 1974).(2) It may be safer for the total marine environment to dri...

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Section: Maximum Amounts Of Pcb's In Eggs Of Thementioning

confidence: 78%

Exposure of marine birds to environmental pollutants / by Harry M. Ohlendorf, Robert W. Risebrough, Kees Vermeer.

Ohlendorf¹,

Risebrough²,

Vermeer³

1978

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“…However, comparatively very few studies on environmental contamination exist for East Asia, contrary to America and Europe. Some studies have been conducted on birds in China (Burger and Gochfeld, 1993;Jeng and Yang, 1995;Dong et al, 2004) and in Korea (Honda et al, 1986;Lee et al, 1989;Nam et al, 2004a, b); on other components of the environment of China (Chui et al, 1991;Connell et al, 1998), Korea (Jung and Thornton, 1997) and Japan (Doi et al, 1984); on humans in China (among others, Cai et al, 1995;Nordberg et al, 1997;Yang et al, 1994), and in Japan (Fujiwara, 1975;Ikeda, 1992). Recently, the Pearl River Delta has repeatedly been monitored for pollutants (Cardoso da Silva, 1988;Connell et al, 2002).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 96%

Little Egrets (Egretta Garzetta) and Trace-Metal Contamination in Wetlands of China

Zhang

Ruan

Fasola

et al. 2006

Environ Monit Assess

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The rapidly developing Asian countries may face threatening environmental contamination, that however remains largely unassessed. We studied persistent trace elements in three wetlands, Poyang Lake, relatively unpolluted, and Tai Lake, and Pearl River Delta, selected as hotspots of pollution in Central China. We adopted as indicator the Little Egret, a widespread colonial waterbird, and during 1999 and 2000 we collected and analysed the same samples as for a parallel study we conducted in Pakistan, e.g. eggs, body feathers of chicks, prey spontaneously regurgitated by the chicks, and sediments at the areas most used by foraging egrets. The levels of trace-metals at our three study areas were similar, or within the range, of those found in the few other studies for East Asia, with few exceptions. The concentrations of the various elements were below the threshold that may affect the survival or reproduction of the birds, and even the highest concentrations relative to background, i.e. Se in eggs, and Hg in feathers at Pearl Delta, do not pose toxic hazards. In sediments, the levels of trace elements were lower than the critical levels assumed for contaminated soil, except for alarming high levels of As at Poyang. These results do not confirm our expectation, that Poyang was relatively uncontaminated, while Tai and Pearl were polluted. Although trace metal concentration differed significantly among the three study areas, these differences were minor and were not consistent among elements and samples. The bioaccumulation ratios from sediments through prey, feather and egg, were consistent with our previous findings for Pakistan. Only Hg exhibited high bioaccumulation, while Se and Zn had low accumulation, and the other elements no accumulation. This reasserts that feathers of predators such as egrets, may be more sensitive indicators of environmental contamination for the elements subject to bioaccumulation, whereas the sediments or the organisms low in the food chain are better indicators for the other elements.

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“…Human exposure to PCBs typically occurs through consumption of contaminated food (Moser and McLachlan 2002). One of the first incidents to indicate the toxicity of PCBs occurred in 1968 when > 1,000 people in Japan became ill after ingesting PCB-contaminated rice oil (Fujiwara 1975). A similar incident occurred in Taiwan in 1979 (Chen et al 1980).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Investigating Intergenerational Differences in Human PCB Exposure due to Variable Emissions and Reproductive Behaviors

Quinn

Wania

Czub

et al. 2011

Environ Health Perspect

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BackgroundReproductive behaviors—such as age of childbearing, parity, and breast-feeding prevalence—have changed over the same historical time period as emissions of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB) and may produce intergenerational differences in human PCB exposure.ObjectivesOur goal in this study was to estimate prenatal, postnatal, and lifetime PCB exposures for women at different ages according to year of birth, and to evaluate the impact of reproductive characteristics on intergenerational differences in exposure.MethodsWe used the time-variant mechanistic model CoZMoMAN to calculate human bioaccumulation of PCBs, assuming both hypothetical constant and realistic time-variant emissions.ResultsAlthough exposure primarily depends on when an individual was born relative to the emission history of PCBs, reproductive behaviors can have a significant impact. Our model suggests that a mother’s reproductive history has a greater influence on the prenatal and postnatal exposures of her children than it does on her own cumulative lifetime exposure. In particular, a child’s birth order appears to have a strong influence on their prenatal exposure, whereas postnatal exposure is determined by the type of milk (formula or breast milk) fed to the infant.ConclusionsPrenatal PCB exposure appears to be delayed relative to the time of PCB emissions, particularly among those born after the PCB production phaseout. Consequently, the health repercussions of environmental PCBs can be expected to persist for several decades, despite bans on their production for > 40 years.

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Environmental and food contamination with PCB's in Japan

Cited by 30 publications

References 3 publications

Exposure of marine birds to environmental pollutants / by Harry M. Ohlendorf, Robert W. Risebrough, Kees Vermeer.

Exposure of marine birds to environmental pollutants / by Harry M. Ohlendorf, Robert W. Risebrough, Kees Vermeer.

Little Egrets (Egretta Garzetta) and Trace-Metal Contamination in Wetlands of China

Investigating Intergenerational Differences in Human PCB Exposure due to Variable Emissions and Reproductive Behaviors

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