Organochlorine pesticides lindane

Wilson and co-workers [332, 333] have discussed the determination of aldrin, chlordane, dieldrin, endrin, lindane, o,p and p,p isomers of DDT and its metabolites, mirex, and toxaphene in seawater and molluscs. The US environmental Protection Agency has also published methods for organochlo-rine pesticides in water and wastewater. The Food and Drug Administration (USA) [334] has conducted a collaborative study of a method for multiple organochlorine insecticides in fish. Earlier work by Wilson et al. [333, 335] in 1968 indicated that organochlorine pesticides were not stable in seawater. 

Cyclodiene pesticides, of which endrin and its oxidized analogs are representative, can also be estimated by receptor-assay technique. Cyclodiene pesticides exert their mode of action by altering central nervous system membrane ion transport. In work reported by Saleh et al. (1993), a labeled amino acid, GABA, that binds to the chloride channel receptor is displaced by endrin (and other similar molecules), and thus serves as an assay for these pesticides. The GABA receptor was shown to be a potentially useful biomarker for organochlorine pesticides such as lindane, toxaphene, endrin, chlordane, and others. The assay involves small quantities of blood (0.1 mL), and requires only that the plasma be separated from the... 

Chadwick RW, Chadwick CJ, Freal JJ, et al. 1977. Comparative enzymes induction and lindane metabolism in rats pre-treated with various organochlorine pesticides. Xenobiotica 7(4) 235-246. 

Lindane (gamma-hexachlorocyclohexane) is one of the last of the old style organochlorine pesticides still in use. Use of organochlorines such as DDT, aldrin, dieldrin, heptachlor, and toxaphene is restricted or banned in many countries because of their persistence in the environment, bioaccumulation, and toxicity. Lindane was first isolated in 1825 along with other similar compounds, but its deadly effects on insects were not recognized until the 1940s. 

Using the Knudsen effusion technique and highly purified samples of lindane [(y-HCH), one of the most widely used and most frequently detected organochlorine pesticides see Willet et al. (1998)], Boehncke et al. (1996) determined the vapor... 

Many processes are operative in the environment that contribute to the regional elimination of a contaminant by altering its distribution. Contaminants with sufficiently high vapor pressure can evaporate from contaminated terrestrial or aquatic compartments and be transferred through the atmosphere to new locations. Such processes of global distillation are considered largely responsible for the worldwide distribution of relatively volatile organochlorine pesticides such as lindane and hexachlorobenzene. Entrainment by wind and upper atmospheric currents of contaminant particles or dust onto which the contaminants are sorbed also contribute to contaminant redistribution. Sorption of contaminant to suspended solids in an aquatic environment with commensurate sedimentation can result with the removal of contaminants from the water... 

In the public health area, the phenomenal but short-lived successes of DDT in controlling disease vectors was noted. In 1955 the WHO had embarked on a program to eradicate malaria. However by the 70s it was evident that the resistance of anopheles to organochlorine pesticides had clearly foiled this plan. 1962 was a peak year for insecticide application in malaria control (130M DDT, 8M Dieldrin, and 1M Lindane). 

The trace enrichment of pesticides from groundwater is a straightforward problem for reversed-phase SPE. The following example uses the EMPORE disk (C-18) to isolate organochlorine pesticides including aldrin, chlordane, endrin, heptachlor, lindane, methoxychlor, pentachlorophenol, and toxaphene from groundwater (Fig. 4.15). 

Mitema and Gitau reported low levels of a-BHC, P-BHC, aldrin, dieldrin, lindane and p,p -DDT in Nile perch from Lake Victoria. The p,p -DDT and its metabolites formed the largest proportion of the organochlorine pesticide residues in the fish samples. The presence of these residues was attributed to the previous use of the pesticides in agriculture and aerial control of mosquitoes in the Lake Victoria region. Studies conducted in other parts of the country revealed similar trends of pesticide contaminations. Wandiga reported residues of aldrin, a-endosulfan, dieldrin, endrin, DDT, DDE, DDD and lindane in seawater, seaweeds, sediments, and fish. They found residue levels ranging from 0.503-9.025 ng/g in sea water, 0.584-59.00 ng/g in sediments, and concentrations of 1011 ng/g and 418 ng/g of p,p -DDT and p,p -DDD, respectively, in fish. 

Figure 7.11 Results obtained for the supercritical extraction of various organochlorine pesticides from contaminated soil and Celite , showing the influence of (a) the soil matrix, and (b) the soil organic matter (SOM) content A, lindane B, aldrin C, dieldrin D, heptachlor E, isodrin (a) B, Celite , soil (b) B, SOM 0.2% , SOM 15% W, SOM 35% [4] (cf. DQ 7.8).

Organochlorine pesticides include aldrin, chlordane, dichophane (DDT), dieldrin (also a metabolite of aldrin) endrin heptachlor, hexachlorobenzene (EICB), 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6-hexachlorocyclohexane (EICEI = benzenehexachloride, BE1C), and lindane (gamma - EICEI). These compounds were widely used but persist in the environment, and lindane, which has a relatively short half-life in vivo, is now the only member of this group still in common use. Pentachlorophenol is used as a contact herbicide. This compound is still widely used in wood preservatives and disinfectants. 

Study on the occurrence and levels of pesticides residues in the river Danube has established the presence of organochlorine pesticides (HCH isomers, HCB and DDT), atrazine and desethylatrazine. Simazine and chlorinated phenols (2,4-dichlorophenol, 2,4,6-trichlorophenol and pentachlorophenol) were also detected (Bratanova Z. et al., 1998). Relatively high levels of DDT and metabolites in the water samples after incidents with pesticide stocks are reported (Kambourova et al., 2005). Atrazine and lindane also were found (Bratanova Z. et al., 2000). 

Keywords organochlorine pesticides DDT, lindane atrazine POPs global pollutants... 

The lowest concentrations of lindane were found in sea water samples -0.003 mkg/1 and the highest in rain water (mean value of 0.039 mkg/1). The average content of DDT was the lowest one in ground waters - 0.046 mkg/1, but higher in rain and sea waters (0.101 and 0.128 mkg/1 respectively). DDT concentrations up to several mkg/1 were detected only in single samples. A considerable part of the organochlorine pesticides adsorbs on the solids suspended in the water. The adsorption capacity of DDT is relatively greater, and that of the lindane - lower. 

At present, the pesticide soil monitoring is carried out by the Ministry of Environment and Waters (MoEW), has started in 1997 and covers the whole country. In the scope of the monitoring programme are the following persistent organochlorine pesticides aldrin, DDT, dieldrin, endrin, heptachlor, hexachlorbenzene (HCB), methoxychlor, cis-heptachlorepo-xide, alfa-HCH and lindane. 

Most organochlorine pesticides are now banned (DDT, aldrin, endrin, dieldrin, chlordane, heptachlor, lindane, toxophene and hexachlorobenzene), or severely restricted in developed countries, but they are still used in developing countries. 

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