Abstract
Organochlorine pesticides belong to the class of persistent organic pollutants (POPs). They are deeply involved in environmental issues and represent a real threat for human health. The aim of this study was to assess the level of organochlorine pesticides contamination in human milk through two studies of POPs biomonitoring performed in 2010 and 2015 in Cote d'Ivoire. Primiparous breastfeeding mothers were selected from maternal and child healthcare centers in the district of Abidjan. A grouped human milk sample was prepared from individual sample collected from each mother. The grouped sample was frozen at -20°C, packaged and shipped to a World Health Organization (WHO) reference laboratory in Germany for the determination of persistent organic pollutants. Analysis of samples from both studies revealed the presence of several organochlorine pesticides such as dichlorodiphenyltrichlorethane (DDT), hexachlorocyclohexane (HCH), dieldrin, chlordane, heptachlor and heptachlorobenzene. Some organochlorine pesticides such as DDT (1073 to 491 ng/g) (54.24%), chlordane (5.7 to 3.6 ng/g) (36.84%), heptachlor (4 to 2 ng/g) (50%) and dieldrin (4.6 to 3.3 ng/g) showed an outstanding decrease. However, HCH and heptachlorobenzene increased in human milk from 2010 to 2015. Values increased from 13.8 to 18.2 ng/g for HCH and from 2.6 to 3.4 ng/g for heptachlorobenzene. Despite their ban, humans are still subject to a long term exposure to organochlorine pesticides. Key words:Organochlorine pesticides, human milk, biomonitoring.
Highlights
Organochlorine pesticides belong to the class of persistent organic pollutants (POPs)
The different studies jointly conducted by World Health Organization (WHO) and United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) were to ascertain whether national policies for persistent organic pollutants (POPs) reduction provided outstanding results
Many organochlorine pesticides banned by the Stockholm Convention have been found in breast milk in Ivory Coast
Summary
Organochlorine pesticides belong to the class of persistent organic pollutants (POPs). These chemicals are lipophilic molecules and very stable. They are accumulated in body fats of long lived species found at the top of the food chain (Porpora et al, 2016). They are at higher concentrations in food products containing fat such as milk. POPs and organochlorine pesticides are basically found in breast milk, blood lipids and other tissues (Porta et al, 2008; Waliszewski et al., 2011; Bräuner et al, 2012; Porpora et al, 2013).
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