This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Tsatsakis, A. Articles by Koutis, C Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Tsatsakis, A. Articles by Koutis, C Pubmed/NCBI databases Compound via MeSH Substance via MeSH Hazardous Substances DB DDT LINDANE Medline Plus Health Information Pesticides Rural Health Concerns Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

Assessment of levels of organochlorine pesticides and their metabolites in the hair of a Greek rural human population

Centre of Toxicology Sciences and Research, Division of Morphology, Medical School, University of Crete, Voutes, Heraklion, 71003, Crete, Greece aris{at}med.uoc.gr

MN Tzatzarakis

Centre of Toxicology Sciences and Research, Division of Morphology, Medical School, University of Crete, Voutes, Heraklion, 71003, Crete, Greece

M Tutudaki

Centre of Toxicology Sciences and Research, Division of Morphology, Medical School, University of Crete, Voutes, Heraklion, 71003, Crete, Greece

F Babatsikou

Department of Public Health, Technical Education Institute of Athens, Greece

AK Alegakis

Centre of Toxicology Sciences and Research, Division of Morphology, Medical School, University of Crete, Voutes, Heraklion, 71003, Crete, Greece

C Koutis

Department of Public Health, Technical Education Institute of Athens, Greece

We present the assessment of chronic exposure of the rural population of Helia Peloponnesus, Greece to banned organochlorine pesticides, hexachlorocyclohexane (HCH), and 1,1,1-trichloro-2,2-bis(4-chlorophenyl)ethane (DDT), using hair analysis. A total of 222 head hair samples were collected and analyzed for the presence of those organochlorine pesticides and their metabolites or isomers. Gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry was used to measure the levels of the pollutants. The median concentrations of -HCH, hexachlorobenzene, lindane, ortho para 1,1-dichloro-2,2-bis-(4-chlorophenyl)ethylene (opDDE), para para 1,1-dichloro-2,2-bis(4-chlorophenyl)ethylene (ppDDE), ortho para 1,1-dichloro-2,2-bis(4-chlorophenyl)ethane (opDDD), para para 1,1-dichloro-2,2-bis(4-chlorophenyl)ethane (ppDDD) + ortho para 1,1,1-trichloro-2,2-bis(4-chlorophenyl)-ethane, and para para 1,1,1-trichloro-2,2-bis(4-chlorophenyl)-ethane were determined at 40.4, 19.7, 124.2, 6.2, 7.8, 73.1, 8.0, and 5.7 pg/mg. The median concentration of total HCHs and DDTs were 117.8 pg/mg and 9.4 pg/mg, respectively. The levels of total HCHs were much higher than the levels of DDTs in the hair samples of the studied population. This may be attributed to the presence of lindane, a pesticide officially banned in 2002. It is interesting to see that DDTs are still traced in samples despite their use being banned for more than three decades. There was no difference in the levels of the detected pesticides in hair sampled from men or women. The concentration of HCHs remains high and relatively stable across the age groups, suggesting constant exposure until very recently. The concentration of the total DDTs and the parent compound, pp-DDT presents a statistically significant decreasing trend across the age groups.

Key Words: DDTs • exposure • GC-MS • hair • hexachlorocyclohexanes • organochlorines

Human & Experimental Toxicology, Vol. 27, No. 12, 933-940 (2008)
DOI: 10.1177/0960327108102047


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?

This article has been cited by other articles:

				Xiaolin Zhang, Zongyao Zhang, Xuxiang Zhang, Bing Wu, Yan Zhang, Liuyan Yang, and Shupei Cheng Effects of Yangtze River source water on genomic polymorphisms of male mice detected by RAPD Human and Experimental Toxicology, February 1, 2010; 29(2): 113 - 120. [Abstract] [PDF]