Temporal trends of organochlorines in Northern Europe, 1967–1995. Relation to global fractionation, leakage from sediments and international measures

Hydroxylated PCB Metabolites and PCBs in Serum from Pregnant Faroese Women

“…2,2-Bis(4-chlorophenyl)-1,1,1-trichloroethane (4,4´-DDE) and persistent PCB congeners are in general and still the most abundant pollutants in wildlife and humans, although recent decreases have been reported (2,3). High concentrations of these substances have been determined even in populations living in remote areas (4,5), including people from the Faroe Islands, as first documented by analyses of four pools of human breast milk sampled from a birth cohort in 1987 (6).…”

Menarche in women with high exposure to persistent organochlorine pollutants in utero and during childhood

“…Since the end of the 1960's, when the Baltic Sea environment was found to be severely polluted by DDT and PCB, continuous temporal monitoring of contaminants has been conducted in Sweden (Bignert et al 1998). Levels of DDT have been decreasing since the program started in 1968, as have levels of PCBs since 1976.…”

“…Although current concentrations of POPs found in the Bothnian Bay (the most northern part of the Baltic Sea) are similar to those found off the Swedish west coast (Bignert et al 1998), the Swedish National Food Administration still recommend restricted consumption of fatty fish from the Baltic Sea (http://www.slv.se).…”

“…The consumption of locally caught fish among fishermen's families from the west coast of Sweden is comparable to that of the fishermen's families on the Swedish east coast (Rylander et al 1995). However, since the fish caught off the west coast is contaminated (Bergqvist et al 1989, Bignert et al 1998, the fishermen's families on the west coast were not as exposed as their counterparts on the east coast. Indeed, higher mean concentrations of the POP biomarker 2,2'4,4',5,5'-hexachlorobiphenyl (CB-153) and p,p'-DDE has been found among east coast fishermen (297 ng/g lipid CB-153 and 433 ng/g lipid p,p'-DDE) than among west coast fishermen (190 ng/g lipid CB-153 and 241 ng/g lipid p,p'-DDE; Anna Rignell-Hydbom, personal communication).…”

Hazardous substances and classification of the environmental conditions in the Baltic Sea and the Kattegat

“…This was the period when there were PCB-induced effects reported such as reproductive impairment fisheating Baltic seals. The mean level was as 2.5 mg/kg lipid (Bignert et al, 1998), which corresponds to 7.5 µg PCB153/kg ww, and defines the threshold between status class III and IV in the assessment criteria. Application factors of 10 and 100 are then used to set the remaining borders between status classes (Table 3.6).…”