Birds toxaphene

Acute oral toxicity of toxaphene to birds and mammals... 

Table 27.4 Acute Oral Toxicity of Toxaphene to Birds and Mammals...

Some human deaths, especially those of children, have been reported following the ingestion of toxaphene-contaminated foods (USEPA 1980a). Known toxaphene residues in food items of victims ranged from 9.7 to 47 mg/kg a total dose of 2 to 7 g of toxaphene is considered acutely toxic to a 70-kg adult. For comparison purposes, a 4.5-kg bird would probably die after consumption of 45 to 450 mg toxaphene (USEPA 1980a). 

Northern bobwhite fed 5 mg/kg dietary toxaphene for 4 months showed thyroid hypertrophy (Pollock and Kilgore 1978) and interference with the ability of bobwhites to discriminate patterns (Kreitzer 1980). In the latter investigation, Kreitzer fed 10 or 50 mg/kg dietary toxaphene to 3-day-old bobwhites for 20 weeks and found that toxaphene-treated birds made 50% more errors than... 

White, D.H., C.A. Mitchell, H.D. Kennedy, AJ. Krynitsky, and M.A. Ribick. 1983. Elevated DDE and toxaphene residues in fishes and birds reflect local contamination in the lower Rio Grande Valley, Texas. Southwest. Natur. 28 325-333. 

Toxaphene (CioHio(- 18) is a mixture of polychlorinated camphenes (bicyclic terpenes). Currently in restricted use as an insecticide, it is toxic to fish, birds and wildlife and may be fatal to shrimp, and crab, etc. (ref. 103, p. 26). Its toxicity and routes of entry in mammals are typical of the cyclic chlorinated hydrocarbons as a class ... 

DDT levels in terrestrial bird species caught in Iwate Prefecture showed higher levels of DDT while toxaphene levels are higher in juvenile sea gull compared with other species. 

Generally, the levels of toxaphene and the frequency of occurrence in birds are low or nondetected as compared with other organochlorine... 

Table 8.6. Toxaphene concentrations in bird samples from different countries... 

Post, G., 1951. Effects of toxaphene and chlordane on certain game birds. J. Wildl. Manage. 15, 381-386. 

It was found that the most abundant congeners B8-1413 (P-26) and B9-1679 (P-50) were nearly racemic, even in tissue from the top level of aquatic food webs such as marine mammals and birds. A few studies, however, mentioned that enantiomer ratios of less persistent toxaphene components significantly deviated from 1.0 [239,242,243]. However, the enantioseparation of less abundant components in sample extracts is more difficult than that of B8-1413 (P-26) and B9-1679 (P-50). Suitable strategies to avoid compound interferences are preseparation by liquid chromatography, multidimensional GC, and MS/MS. 

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