Human milk contamination by nine organochlorine pesticide residues (OCPs)
Raiane Costa Souza, Roberto Bagattini Portella, Paula Valéria Nunes Brito Almeida, Caroline Oliveira Pinto, Priscila Gubert, José Domingos Santos da Silva, Thamilin Costa Nakamura, Enoc Lima do Rêgo
Abstract
Organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) are widely used around the world as insecticides, herbicides, fungicides, nematicides, and rodenticides. Despite banned in Brazil, the usage remains occurring in many countries. The persistence and extreme mobility of OCPs contribute to the contamination of the environment and the human body. The OCPs bioaccumulation in adipose tissue triggers the excretion into human milk during breastfeeding. Hence, the present study determined eighteen OCPs residues in the breast milk of mothers from the Western Region of Bahia State, Brazil. Nine different residue species were found, including beta-Hexachlorocyclohexane (9.24 ± 0.00 ng g−1 fat), delta- Hexachlorocyclohexane (22.15 ± 10.48 ng g−1 fat), Heptachlor (58.08 ± 74.13 ng g−1 fat), Aldrin (142.65 ± 50.65 ng g−1 fat), Dieldrin (774.62 ± 472.68 ng g−1 fat), Endosulfan I (408.44 ± 245.51 ng g−1 fat), Dichloro-diphenyl-dichloro-ethylene (29.17 ± 22.42 ng g−1 fat), Dichloro-diphenyl-trichloro-ethane (28.87 ± 0.00 ng g−1 fat) and Methoxychlor (1699.67 ± 797.43 ng g−1 fat). The Methoxychlor presence in all samples may reveal a recent exposure, while Dieldrin and Endosulfan I analyses can point to distant past exposure.