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Persistent organochlorine compounds were used in agriculture and industry for years. Their ability to accumulate in organisms constituting links of the food chain and a unique chemical stability made them a hazardous environmental contaminants. The metabolism and excretion of chlorinated hydrocarbons is a very slow process. One of the most important means of elimination such compounds from the woman`s body is lactation. Consequently, human milk has occasionally a significant concentration of organochlorine compounds. Such compounds are identified in women`s milk all over the world. The objective of this study was to identify organochlorine pesticides, HCB, and PCBs concentrations in human milk in Poland by comparing more and less industrialized regions. 15 refs., 3 tabs.

Persistent organic chlorine compounds such as DDT and its metabolites, hexachlorobenzene (HCB) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) play an important role in chronic poisoning and take part in a number of pathological processes. This study estimates the degree of accumulation of organic Chlorine compounds and polychlorinated biphynyls in the liver, ovaries, and mammary gland tissues of cows.12 refs., 1 fig., 1 tab.

Most of the persistent organochlorine (OC) pesticides, excluding lindane, were banned in Poland in 1975/76. The first restrictions concerning the use and marketing of lindane (gamma-HCH) became effective in 1980 and were gradually extended until it's agricultural use was ultimately banned in 1989. Unfortunately, there are no detailed data on the use and release of PCBs to the environment in Poland. The former studies showed that in the late seventies the concentrations of OC pesticides and their metabolites in men reached considerable high levels. Despite of the restrictions or bans of these pesticides in most of the countries of the temperate climate, they still circulate in various food chains and eventually concentrate in man. Many authors claim an uneven distribution of the OC compounds in the population and report different levels in men and women and also some relations between OC compounds levels in fat tissues and age. Environmental contamination also plays an important role in the magnitude of OC compounds levels in man. The aim of this paper is to present the actual concentrations of HCB, p,p[prime]-DDT, p,p[prime]-DDE, isomers of HCH (alpha, beta, gamma), and PCBs in human adipose tissues particularly regarding age and sex as possible factors influencingmore » the levels of these compounds and to contribute to the general discussion on the distribution patterns of the organochlorine compounds in the population. 12 refs., 3 tabs.« less