Enantiomer-Selective and Quantitative Trace Analysis of Selected Persistent Organic Pollutants (POP) in Traditional Food from Western Greenland

Abstract

Enantiomeric fractions (EF) are today considered a powerful tool to elucidate selective uptake processes of chiral contaminants in biota. In this study, concentration levels and EF were determined by gas chromatograph–mass spectrometer (GC/MS) for α-hexachlorocyclohexane (α-HCH) and trans-, cis-, and oxychlordane in selected Greenlandic traditional food items, collected at the local market in Nuuk in 2010. The food items selected were raw and smoked fish (salmon and halibut, n = 6), whale meat (n = 8), seal meat (n = 2) and narwhal mattak (skin and blubber, n = 6). The EF were nonracemic (≠0.5) for all samples except for α-HCH in narwhal, trans-chlordane in whale and smoked salmon, and cis- and oxychlordane in seal. The EF for α-HCH were significant for all fish samples, but not for mammalian samples. Data indicate that different uptake and/or transformation mechanisms may be responsible for nonracemic distributions of chiral pesticides in mammals and fish species analyzed. There were no general enantiomer-selective transformation/accumulation trends found for chlordanes. Data indicate that enantiomer-specific properties are an important prerequisite for interaction of chiral contaminant with internal metabolic processes. However, marked differences within these groups were identified. The EF in ringed seals were racemic for most of the analyzed pesticides (i.e., chlordanes). However, narwhal were characterized by nonracemic EF for all chiral pesticides analyzed. Median levels of α-HCH ranged from 2 to 24 ng/g lw and from 15.1 to 626.6 ng/g lw for trans-nonachlor, with lowest levels observed in smoked salmon and highest levels in narwhal mattak. This study confirmed that concentration levels of analyzed pesticides in the investigated food items were below the tolerable daily intake (TDI) threshold.

FUNDING

We acknowledge the EU framework 7 project ArcRisk “Arctic Health Risks: Impacts on health in the Arctic and Europe owing to climate-induced changes in contaminant cycling” for funding and the Norwegian Institute for Air Research (NILU) in Tromsø for analyses. We are also grateful to Ane-Marie Beck for laboratory support. We thank Mikael Harju and Nick Warner from NILU Tromsø for advice regarding enantiomeric analyses; Sarah Lovibond helped with the language, and the Greenland Institute of Natural Resources supported us during sampling.

SUPPLEMENTAL DATA

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed at http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15287394.2014.887425