PCB congeners in human milk in Germany from 1984/85 and 1990/91

Abstract

Studies of so-called bioindicators clearly show the impact of environmental legislation on PCB contamination of the environment and of the food chain in the Federal Republic of Germany. This is evident from the results of studies performed in our laboratory on samples of muscle tissue from foxes that were submitted for post-mortem examination in the years 1983, 1987 and 1991. Whereas the concentration of low-chlorinated congeners of high-chlorinated biphenyls, with the exception of PCB no. 101, decreased. This trend may also be responsible for changes in the otherwise stable PCB concentrations in human milk. Consequently, in the study describe here, milk samples from 1990/91, from women in Middle-Hesse, Germany, were examined and the results compared to samples stemming from 1984/85. 11 refs., 3 tabs.