Polychlorinated biphenyls health hazard

Statement by the Committee on Toxicity of Chemicals in Food, Consumer Products and the Environment on the health hazards of polychlorinated biphenyls (1997). 

PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls) A family of chemicals composed of biphenyl molecules that have been chlorinated to varying degrees, performance assessment A type of risk assessment in which the potential long-term impacts of hazardous waste disposal on human health and the environment are evaluated for the purpose of determining whether disposal of specific wastes at specific sites should be acceptable, persistence The length of time that a contaminant persists in the environment. 

MRL has never been intended as a one-size-fits-all tool for all hazardous waste site exposure scenarios rather, it is merely a starting point for further examination of potential health risk. Therefore, at sites where methylmercury is present in combination with other known or suspected neurodevelopmental toxicants, such as lead or polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), and in which exposure is primarily episodic in nature, the health assessor might consider using a value below the chronic oral MRL for methylmercury as a starting point for determination of further site investigation. (A more complete description of the uses of MRLs and other HGVs can be found in Chou et al. 1998 and Risher and De Rosa 1997.)... 

The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences is funding research at the State University of New York at Albany to conduct an epidemiologic study of Mohawk women and infants to test the hypotheses that exposure to PAHs, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans (PCDD/Fs) from a nearby Superfund hazardous waste site elevates body burdens and effects the cytochrome P-450-dependent mixed function... 

Stress reactions to occupational and community chemical exposures occur in both acute and chronic forms. Much of the literature pertaining to community reactions to chronic chemical exposures involves hazardous waste sites. By 1988, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) identified 29,300 sites needing cleanup. The EPA listed 950 of them on the National Priorities List, also known as the Superfund sites [Health Aspects of the Disposal of Waste Chemicals 1986 Upton et al. 1989). Several sources review the medical and environmental aspects of hazardous waste sites (Andelman and Underhill 1987 Committee on Environmental Epidemiology 1991 Epstein et al. 1982 Health Aspects of the Disposal of Waste Chemicals 1986 Petts 1994 Weisaeth 1984). The most common chemicals in these sites include trichloroethylene, lead, toluene, benzene, chloroform, polychlorinated biphenyls, and miscellaneous solvents (Upton et al. 1989). 

Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) were manufactured as a liquid transformer oil. Due to leakage, PCBs are now found throughout the environment, and this long-lived chemical represents a health hazard. PCBs have been found to be present in the St. Lawrence River at concentrations of about 0.3 ppb (parts per billion by weight). Estimate the likely concentration ot PCBs in fish in this river. The average octanol-water partition coefficient for PCBs is... 

Eisler, R. 2000. Polychlorinated biphenyls. Pages 1237-1341 in Handbook of Chemical RiskAssessment Health Hazards to Humans, Plants, and Animals. Volume 2, Organics. Lewis Publishers, Boca Raton, Florida. 

Science—today and everyday—is under assault. The assailants are members of the media, trial lawyers, self-appointed consumer-activists, and environmentalists. The science being mutilated pertains to a wide spectrum of health topics— including facts on the purported health hazards aroimd us, including acrylamide (a chemical formed in cooking high-carbohydrate foods), breast implants, polychlorinated biphenyls, phthalates (plasticizers), aspartame (Nutrasweet), and Olestra (Procter Gamble s doomed fat substitute). 

Monitoring and control of pollutants The presence of heavy metals (for example lead, cadmium and mercury), organic chemicals (for example polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs)) and vehicle exhaust gas emissions (polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs)) are all health hazards that need to be monitored by accurate methods of analysis. Atmospheric pollutants also need to be monitored. 

Fish with high fat contents is an important source of long-chain n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) in the human diet, in particular for docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) (EFSA, 2005). On the other side, a wide range of environmental contaminants have been reported to be accumulated in fish that can pose a potential human health hazard (Leonard, 2011). Major contaminations include the different OCPs, PAHs or the widely distributed persistent organic pollutants (POPs) with the polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and the flame retardants compound class of the polybrominated diphenylethers (PBDEs). Also farmed fish can significantly contribute to dietary exposure to various contaminants due to the use of land sourced fish feed. A multi method for efficient control of fish and fish feed for various groups of contaminants from PCBs, OCPs, BFRs (brominated flame retardants) and PAHs is outlined in the following analytical procedure published by Kamila Kalachova et al. (Kalachova et al., 2013). 

Because of very high toxicity, ability of delayed action and high stability in the environment, polychlorinated dibenzodioxins (PCDD), dibenzofurans (PCDF) and biphenyls (PCB) are particularly hazardous for people s health if misused for committing acts of terrorism, or under the circumstances of violating the rules of toxic wastes safe storage. 

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