Chlordane health advisories

Health advisories have been issued near Lawrence, Kansas, based on chlordane levels in edible fish tissues. In fish from the Kansas River, Kansas, in 1986, chlordanes were detected more frequently and at higher levels than other contaminants measured (Arruda et al. 1987). More than 80% of the sites sampled in Kansas had detectable chlordanes in fish at more than 50% of these sites, levels exceeded 0.1 mg/kg fresh weight — a guideline for the protection of predatory fish. At three urban sites in Kansas, concentrations of chlordanes in fish have approached or exceeded... 

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA). 1988. United States Environmental Protection Agency Office of Drinking Water Health Advisories. Chlordane. Rev. Environ. Contam. Toxicol. 104 47-62. 

One excess cancer per million (10 ) is associated with lifetime exposure to chlordane in drinking water at concentrations as low as 0.027 pg/L, the most conservative estimate. A lifetime health advisory computation was not possible because chlordane is a probable human carcinogen (USEPA 1988). 

Eor mercury, results from the 1999 US Natio nal Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (NHANES), which measured mercury levels in hair and blood of US women, show that 8% of US women of childbearing age have concentrations of mercury at blood levels higher than those associated with EPA s reference dose. About 75% of the 2618 US consumption advisories listed on US EPA s 2001 National Listing of Pish and Wildlife Advisories were issued at least partly due to mercury, and lake acres and river miles under mercury advisory continued to increase in 2001, a trend since 1993. Most US advisories involve mercury, PCBs, chlordane, dioxin, and DDT, with PCBs being the second highest cause of fish advisories. 

Chemicals in lakes and streams caused 46 states to issue public health warnings to avoid or curtail the eating of fish. Mercury was the cause in 60% of the cases, polychlorinated biphenyls 22%, chlordane (a banned chlorinated insecticide) 7%, DDT 2%, the remainder being spread over 25 chemicals.182 Fish advisories went up 26% from 1995 to 1996 to the point where 15% of the lakes and 5% of the rivers in the United States are now covered.183 In fairness to industry, it should be pointed out that a study by the Lindsay Museum, in Walnut Creek, California, found that 70% of the chemicals in San Francisco Bay came from the daily activities of ordinary people (e.g., oil from leaky cars, copper dust from brake pads, garden fertilizers, and pesticides).184 Nearly 50% of the oil in the world s waters comes from people carelessly discarding used oil on the ground or down drains.185 Sixty-six percent of Delaware... 

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