Cent Eur J Public Health 1999, 7(2):67-71
Polyhalogenated hydrocarbons: Body burden of the Czech and Slovak populations. I. Polychlorinated biphenyls
- 1 Center of Environmental Health, National Institute of Public Health, Prague, Czech Republic
- 2 Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology, First Faculty of Medicine, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic
Human exposure to PCBs in the environment is widespread because of the environmental persistance of these compounds, their chemical stability and lipophilicity resulted in bioaccumulation in the food chain. The objective of this paper is to summarize and review the data concerning biomonitoring of human exposure to PCBs in the former Czechoslovakia, and - more recently - in the Czech and Slovak Republics published in the local and international journals. The levels of total PCBs detected in the breast milk ranged from 0.5 to 3.45 mg/kg fat. Of the set of detected indicator congeners the highest levels were found in congener 153 (475.3 µg/kg fat in Uherske Hradiste and 434.9 µg/kg fat in Michalovce). Similarly, the highest concentrations of indicator congeners 138, 153 and 180 were found in adipose tissue obtained from the above mentioned localities. The data obtained till now does not confirm ideas about widespread excessive exposure of Czech and Slovak populations to polychlorinated biphenyls via contamination of a food basket except of the two localities contaminated due to production and massive application of PCBs. The uncertainty in contemporary background levels of PCBs and the unknown extent of the body burden resulted in including the systematic monitoring of PCBs in human fluids and tissues into the system of Monitoring the Environmental Impact on Population Health of the Czech Republic since 1994. In accordance with the results obtained in Western Europe, the declining levels of PCBs in human body of Czech and Slovak populations was observed in the last years. However, the question, if and to what extent the present health state of Czech and Slovak populations might be influenced by the past exposure to PCBs remains to be assessed.
Published: June 1, 1999 Show citation