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International Journal of Marine Science 2013, Vol.3, No.26, 201-211
http://ijms.sophiapublisher.com
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1.2 PCBs and PCDD/Fs concentrations
A total of 59 composite fish samples were evaluated. The
European legislation quoted earlier sets limits for PCBs
and PCDD/Fs in fish muscle for human consumption,
and these levels were used as base in this study.
Outlines of PCBs and PCDD/Fs concentrations are
showed in Table 2 and Table 3, presenting the average
concentrations (min~max concentration) for each fish
species. The column headed WHO-TEQ refers to the
total toxicity from all PCBs and 17 2,3,7,8-substituted
PCDDs/Fs congeners based on the World Health
Organization Toxic Equivalents’ method (Van Den
Berg et al., 2006). For the purpose of calculating
WHO-TEQ for PCDDs/Fs and PCBs, a concentration
of 1/2 of the detection limit was used for each
nondetect. The concentration of total PCBs ranged
from 0.26394~1.16304 pg-WHO-TEQ/g ww and
PCDDs/PCDFs ranged from 0.12144~0.33747
pg-WHO-TEQ/g.
The European Union established maximum permissible
levels for human consumption of 4.0 pg WHO-TEQ/g
fresh weight and 8.0 pg WHO-TEQ/g fresh weight of
toxic equivalents (WHO-TEQ), for PCDD/Fs and for
PCDD/Fs plus dioxin-like compounds, respectively, in
the muscle meat of fish and fishery products (EC,
2006). All fish species analyzed in the current survey
showed PCDD/F plus DL-PCB concentrations under
the EU maximum permissible level. The sum of
PCDD/PCDFs concentration found was 0.20179 pg
WHO-TEQ/g in marine catfish, 0.12144 pg WHO-TEQ/g
in false herring, 0.19572 pg WHO-TEQ/g in chere-chere
grunt, and 0.33747 pg WHO-TEQ/g in barracuda. The
sum of PCDD/PCDF/PCBs was 0.66036 pg WHO-TEQ/g
in marine catfish, 0.38538 pg WHO-TEQ/g in false
herring, 0.73319 pg WHO-TEQ/g in chere-chere grunt,
and 1.50051 pg WHO-TEQ/g in barracuda.
As shown in Figure 2, by means of the toxicity factors
WHO-TEF, the contribution to the toxicity found was
caused by PCB 77 (False herring, Barracuda), and
PCB 126 (Marine catfish, Chere-chere grunt).
Figure 2 Congener contributions to dioxin-like PCBs toxicity in Marine catfish, False herring, Chere-chere grunt, and Barracuda,
collect from Sepetiba Bay, Rio de Janeiro State, Brazil, during July-August 2012
For analysis of the toxicity factors WHO-TEF, related
to PCDD/Fs, the toxicity found was found by
2378-TCDD (Marine catfish, False herring, Barracuda),
12378
-
PeCDD (Marine catfish, False herring,
Chere-chere grunt, Barracuda), 123478
-
HxCDD
(Marine catfish, False herring), and 23478-PeCDF
(Marine catfish, Chere-chere grunt, Barracuda), as
demonstrated in Figure 3.
2 Discussion
Sepetiba Bay is an example of an aquatic environment
that has been severely impacted by human occupation
and industrial activities in its basin. Some 400
industries including metallurgical, petrochemical and
pyrometallurgical smelters, which emitted pollutants
to air, soil and water, were established in Sepetiba
Basin during the past 30 years.