Aquatic biota mirex

In areas where mirex was historically used for fire ant control, it has been detected in fish and other aquatic biota from contaminated rivers. An analysis of mirex residues in primary, secondary, and... 

Another major exposure route for humans is via contaminated food. For example, North America s Great Lakes, which are the largest body of freshwater in the world, are polluted with about 362 contaminants that were found in quantifiable amounts in the water, sediment, and biota (IJC 1983 USEPA 1994). The critical pollutants were identified as PCBs, DDT, dieldrin, toxaphene, mirex, methyl mercury, benzofa) pyrene, hexachlorobenzene, polychlorinated dibenzodioxins (PCDDs), polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDFs), and alkylated lead. Some of these pollutants biomagnify in the aquatic food chain and can be detected in increased levels in cooked Great Lakes fish. Consequently, the blood serum levels of these chemicals are significantly increased in consumers of contaminated Great Lakes sport fish compared to people who do not eat such fish (Flumphrey 1983 Fiore et al. 1989 Sonzogni et al. 1991). 

Aquatic organisms are comparatively resistant to mirex in short-term toxicity tests. Among various species of freshwater biota, LC50 (96 h) values were not obtained at the highest nominal concentrations tested of 1000.0 p,g/L... 

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