Organochlorine pesticide and polychlorinated biphenyl residues in human milk from Tabriz, Iran

Abstract

Human breast milk samples, collected during April 2007 in Tabriz, Iran, were analyzed for organochlorine (OC) pesticides, such as dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) and its metabolites, hexachlorobenzene (HCB), α, β, and γ-hexachlorocycloexane (HCH) isomers and six polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB) congeners (IUPAC Nos. 28, 52, 101, 138, 153, and 180). Organochlorine pesticides and OCB were both prevalent in the samples of human breast milk. Average concentrations of HCB, DDT, HCH, and PCB were 1020, 1930, 1660, and 690 ng g⁻¹ lipid weight, respectively. A positive correlation was observed between concentration of OC in human breast milk and mothers age with primiparae. Women having higher OC concentrations than multiparae women suggests that these parameters influence the OC burden in lactating women. The estimated tolerable daily intakes (TDIs) of HCH, HCB and PCB solely from human breast milk were 100, 46, and 43% of samples, respectively, exceeding guideline thresholds given as TDI proposed by Health Canada. Although high daily intakes may raise concerns for possible adverse effects of OC, women in Tabriz are recommended to breastfeed due to the numerous advantages for mother and child.

Keywords:

• human breast milk
• organochlorine pesticide
• polychlorinated biphenyls
• Iran

Acknowledgments

We thank Hormoz Sohrabi who cooperated in the statistical analysis of the data. We also thank Ms. S. Dahmardeh Behrooz for language assistance. We thank Ms. Khandan Shiri for collection of human milk samples from Tabriz. We would like to thank Dr. Adrian Covaci (University of Antwerp, Belgium) for critically reviewing this article.