Environmental and occupational exposures and serum PCB concentrations and patterns among Mohawk men at Akwesasne

Abstract

A study was conducted to address the question of how fish consumption, occupation, and outdoor air affected serum PCB concentrations and congener patterns among 139 Native American men living near three hazardous waste sites. They were interviewed about their residential, occupational, and dietary histories, and donated 20 ml of venous blood for congener-specific PCB analysis. The similarity in the congener pattern between that found in the serum and that detected in local environmental samples was measured by calculating the Euclidean distance between them. The results indicated that serum PCB concentrations were positively associated with cumulative lifetime exposures to PCBs from local fish consumption and occupation. However, participants who lived in the last 10 years at Raquette Point, which is the area of the Reserve closest to the hazardous waste sites and the only location where elevated levels of PCBs were found in outdoor air, did not have higher serum PCB concentrations than participants who lived elsewhere at Akwesasne. Regarding pattern matching, Mohawk men with the greatest cumulative lifetime exposure to PCBs from local fish consumption had a serum PCB congener pattern that more closely resembled that in fish caught off-shore from one of the hazardous waste sites than did men who ate less local fish. Similarly, Mohawk men who were occupationally exposed to PCBs were more likely than those without occupational exposure to have a serum PCB congener pattern that was similar to that of Aroclor 1248, the commercial PCB mixture used locally. The serum PCB congener pattern of Raquette Point residents more closely resembled the pattern in outdoor air only if the men ate relatively few local fish. The study is among the first to demonstrate that outdoor air may affect serum PCB congener patterns, at least in the absence of heavy fish consumption.

Estimating the half-lives of PCB congeners in former capacitor workers measured over a 28-year interval

“…Values less than the detection limit were set to the lowest positive value for a given analyte. This decision was based on the fact that many chemists and statisticians believe that a reported result, even if it is below the ''criterion for detection,'' is the best available estimate of the true value, and is preferable to assigning a zero or an arbitrary constant, such as one-half the detection limit (Wolff et al, 2008;Fitzgerald et al, 2007b). Coefficients of variation (SD/mean) of DDE and PCBs from the fortified pools were 10% to 15%.…”

Fish consumption and body burden of organochlorines among lower hudson urban anglers

“…One possible route is from other fish, such as commercial fish, yet very few of those not eating the local fish reported commercial fish consumption. Other sources of exposure are occupation [Fitzgerald et al, 2006;Prince et al, 2006] and, possibly, proximity to hazardous waste sites [Stehr-Green et al, 1988;Orloff et al, 2003;DeCaprio et al, 2005]. Of the 18 anglers that reported not eating the local catch, 12 were not currently working.…”

Aroclor 1254 inhibits cell viability and induces apoptosis of human A549 lung cancer cells by modulating the intracellular Ca2+level and ROS production through the mitochondrial pathway

“…[11,12] Some evidences have shown that inhalation uptake is also a significant source route of PCBs exposure. [13,14] Results of daily intake estimation for e-waste recycling workers indicate that air inhalation contributes a large portion of low-chlorinated PCB intake (>80% for triCBs). [15] In urban areas, inhalation of indoor dust and air has been highlighted as an important pathway of PCBs exposure.…”