Biological effects and physical properties in the marine environment of aliphatic chlorinated by-products from vinyl chloride production

Abstract

A mixture of short-chained aliphatic hydrocarbons, the so called EDC-tar, is formed as a byproduct from vinyl chloride production in quantities of approx. 75,000 tons annum −1 in Northern Europe. Most of this is dumped into the sea. In 1970, concentrations of EDC-tar from the North Sea were reported to be as high as 10 per cent of that causing acute toxic effects on marine organisms (J ensen et al., 1970). This work was undertaken to find out the behaviour of some components of the EDC-tar in the marine environment. Dumped into the sea, EDC-tar has a tendency to disperse and to adhere to particles. Acute toxicity of these ClC components, evaluated by LC50 48 h tests, was found to be approx. 2·5–9 ppm for some marine animals. Accumulation factors of between 10 and 3 × 10 3 were estimated for animals presented to EDC-contaminated sea water. Accumulation in cod fed with EDC-contaminated shrimp was higher in liver than in muscle. Excretion was rapid when feeding was discontinued, and the biological half-lives of the ClC compounds were found to be a few weeks. Sublethal EDC-concentrations were found to bring about disorders in growth in the polychaete Ophryotrocha labronica and to reduce swimming ability in the barnacle Balanus balanoides. In Allium cepa, c-mitotic effects of EDC-tar were observed.