Suchergebnisse

11 páginas, 4 figuras, 6 tablas. ; Prenatal levels of organohalogen compounds (OHCs), including polybromodiphenyl ethers (PBDEs), polychlorobiphenyls (PCBs), hexachlorobenzene (HCB), hexachlorocyclohexanes and DDTs have been investigated in two different cohorts from the Spanish Mediterranean area, Valencia and Menorca, by analysis of cord blood serum. Comparison of the observed median concentrations to other cohorts show low PBDE levels (2.8-6.8 ng/g lipid) but high values of HCB (0.68 ng/ml, 260 ng/g lipid) and PCBs (0.65 ng/ml, 240 ng/g lipid) in the cohort of Menorca indicating that Mediterranean areas, and not only high latitude regions, may contain population groups highly exposed to some of these pollutants. Significant differences in the concentrations of these compounds have been found between the two cohorts. Differences in maternal population such as age or body mass index cannot explain this variation. One possible cause of variability is the seven year time period elapsed between the two cohort recruitments but the strong differences observed do not allow exclusion of local diet differences. Thus, the different average PCB congener distributions between the two cohorts suggests an influence from materials containing diverse PCB mixtures. The congener mixtures found in Menorca could reflect a diet contribution from some western Mediterranean fish species. These results provide baseline information on prenatal OHC background levels in the Mediterranean area. ; The authors are grateful to the mothers who participated in the study and to Hospital La Fe. Funding was received from the Spanish Ministry of Health and Ministry of Science and Innovation (INMA G03/176, Consolider Ingenio GRACCIE, CSD2007-00067, FIS-FEDER: 03/1615, 04/1112, 04/1509, 04/1666, 05/1987, 06/1213 and 09/2647), Council of Health from the Autonomous Valencian Government (Generalitat Valenciana), Fundacio Roger Torne and ArcRisk EU Project (FP7-ENV-2008-1-226534). ; Peer reviewed