Concentrations and metabolism of PCBs in eggs of waterbirds on the German North Sea coast.

Abstract

Among environmental chemicals found in top predators the polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB) often occur at high concentrations and are of toxicological relevance. Not only concentrations but also the composition of the PCB mixtures, which consist of many congeners of different degrees of chlorination, vary among species and sites. In this paper we show the interspecific variation in PCB concentrations and in the degree of metabolism of the PCB mixtures in eggs of 11 waterbird species breeding on the highly polluted German Wadden Sea coast, where the PCB contamination of birds has been increasing during the last decade. 14 refs., 2 tabs.