Bioaccumulation Of Persistent Organic Pollutants And The Health Risk Assessment In Edible Fish From Guangdong Coastal Area

Organochlorine pesticides(OCPs) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons(PAHs) are globally recognized persistent organic pollutants(POPs), bearing properties of high toxicity, bioaccumulation potential, environmental persistence, and long-range transport. Due to their highly lipophilicity, OCPs and PAHs are easily enriched in organism and biological magnification via the food chain. Concentrations of organic pollutants in fish are usually high because of its relative high trophic level in the food chain. Bioaccumulation of organic pollutants(including OCPs and PAHs) the potential health risks for human being via fish consumption have been reported various literatures worldwide.Guangdong province is the second largest aquaculture area in China, while the bioaccumulation and exposure levels of OCPs and PAHs in fish from this area was rarely reported. In the present work, OCPs and PAHs in 210 edible fish sampleswere analyzed for the purpose of understanding their residue levels and possible health risks via fish consumption. All the samples were collected from seven coastal cities in Guangdong Province during August to October, 2013. The results shown that both OCPs and PAHs can be detected in all the samples, with mean concentrations of 159-653 ng/g lw and 1.76×102-90.3×102 ng/g lw, respectively. The highest concentration of OCPs and PAHs were found in grass carp and Largemouth bass, respectively, wihle the lowest concentrations of OCPs and PAHs were both found in Hairtai.Mean concentrations of DDTs and HCHs in fish were 75.0-371 ng/g lw and 15.0-92.7 ng/g lw which accounted for 45.5% and 13.0% of ΣOCPs, respectively, and were moderate compared worldwide. p,p’-DDE was the dominateing isomer in DDTs and accounted for 42.4% of ΣDDTs. Among the HCHs isomers, α-HCH was the dominanting isomer, accounting for 49.7% of ΣHCHs. As for PAHs, Phenanthrene was the dominanting homologue, accounting for 19.0% of ΣPAHs. In fact, PAHs in fish samples were mainly composed of phenanthrene, fluorene and anthracene, which collectively accounted for 74.9% of ΣPAHs. Source apportionment suggested that OCPs in fish from Guangdong coastal area was mainly historical inputs, wihle PAHs was mainly stemmed from the incomplete combustion of oil and coal. Based on the residue levels of DDTs, HCHs and PAHs in fish from Guangdong coastal area, and the relevant standards provided by Chinse goveroment and fidderent international organizations, health risks of the POPs via fish consumption were assessed. The results showed no significant carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic health risk for the exposure of OCPs and PAHs via fish consumption.