PCDD/F and PCB in harbour seals ( Phoca vitulina) from British Columbia: response to exposure to pulp mill effluents

• Published in: Marine environmental research Vol. 59; no. 2; pp. 165 - 176
• Main Authors: Addison, R.F., Ikonomou, M.G., Smith, T.G.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Elsevier Ltd 01.03.2005; Elsevier
• Subjects: Adipose Tissue - chemistry; Animal and plant ecology; Animal, plant and microbial ecology; Animals; Benzofurans - analysis; Benzofurans - pharmacokinetics; Biological and medical sciences; British Columbia; Chlorinated hydrocarbons; Dibenzofurans, Polychlorinated; Environmental Exposure; Environmental Pollutants - analysis; Environmental Pollutants - pharmacokinetics; Female; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Harbour seal; Industrial Waste; Male; Mammals; Marine; Monitoring; PCB; PCDD; PCDF; Phoca; Phoca vitulina; Polychlorinated Biphenyls - analysis; Polychlorinated Biphenyls - pharmacokinetics; Polychlorinated Dibenzodioxins - analogs & derivatives; Polychlorinated Dibenzodioxins - analysis; Polychlorinated Dibenzodioxins - pharmacokinetics; Pulp mill effluent; Sea water ecosystems; Synecology; Tissue Distribution; Waste Disposal, Fluid; Canada; British Columbia; North America; America; Canada, British Columbia; INE, North America, Georgia Strait; INE, Canada, British Columbia, Vancouver I., Quatsino Sound; Canada, British Columbia, Vancouver I; PCDF; Pulp mill effluent; PCDD; Chlorinated hydrocarbons; British Columbia; Harbour seal; Mammals; Phoca vitulina; PCB; Monitoring; Carnivora; Hydrocarbon; Paper mill; Pinnipedia; Polychlorobiphenyl; Marine environment; Vertebrata; Mammalia; Organochlorine compounds; Effluent
• ISSN: 0141-1136; 1879-0291
• DOI: 10.1016/j.marenvres.2004.04.005

Blubber of harbour seals ( Phoca vitulina) sampled from the Strait of Georgia, BC, in 1991 and 1992 contained higher concentrations of polychlorinated dibenzo- p-dioxins and furans (PCDD/F) than did samples from Quatsino Sound on western Vancouver Island. The higher proportions of 1,2,3,6,7,8-hexachlorodibenzodioxin and 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzofuran in the Strait of Georgia samples probably reflect contamination arising from the discharge of effluents from bleached kraft mills. Higher concentrations of non- ortho- and mono- ortho substituted polychlorinated biphenyls were also found in the Strait of Georgia samples, probably as a result of general industrial activity in the region. Principal components analysis showed that residues were distributed differently between males and females. Within males, concentrations of PCDD, PCDF and PCBs appeared to increase with age. Toxic equivalents (TEQ) to 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzodioxin in the Quatsino Sd. samples were close to the working guidelines for edible fish used by Health Canada; TEQ calculated for the Strait of Georgia samples exceeded these guidelines by up to a factor of five.