OCPs and PCBs in Marine Edible Fish and Human Health Risk Assessment in the Eastern Guangdong, China

Abstract

Marine edible fish samples were collected from two important nearshore fishing sites in the eastern Guangdong Province, China: Shantou Harbor and Haimen Bay. In the mixed edible muscle tissues of marine fish samples, the concentrations of polychlorinated biphenyls, dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethanes (DDTs), hexachlorocyclohexanes (HCHs), chlordanes, and hexachlorobenzene ranged from 1.12 to 53.87, ND (not detected) to 84.01, 0.22 to 7.09, ND to 4.74, and ND to 1.49 ng/g wet weight (ww) in Haimen Bay, respectively, and from ND to 70.35, ND to 164.83, ND to 8.68, ND to 25.61, and ND to 1.76 ng/g ww in Shantou Harbor, respectively. The concentrations of PCBs, DDTs, and HCHs in all samples did not exceed maximum residue limits (China and United States Food and Drug Administration). However, a few fish samples exceed the maximum levels established by the European Union. Daily fish consumption from this region can be of serious concern, and lifetime cancer risk remains a possibility in the studied area.