Fish contamination

[Guest guest]

Is anyone concerned over the high levels of polybrominated diphenyl

ethers and similar toxins in retail fish? My understanding is these

compounds bioacumulate at levels commensurate with consumption.

Have fish oil pills been tested for these compounds?

Polybrominated diphenyl ethers in the environment and in people: a

meta-analysis of concentrations.

Hites RA.

School of Public and Environmental Affairs, Indiana University,

Bloomington, Indiana 47405, USA. HitesR@...

Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) are used as flame retardants in

many types of consumer products. Perhaps as a result of their

widespread use and their lipophilicity, these compounds have become

ubiquitous in the environment and in people. This review summarizes

PBDE concentrations measured in several environmental media and

analyzes these data in terms of relative concentrations, concentration

trends, and congener profiles. In human blood, milk, and tissues,

total PBDE levels have increased exponentially by a factor of

approximately 100 during the last 30 yr; this is a doubling time of

approximately 5 yr. The current PBDE concentrations in people from

Europe are approximately 2 ng/g lipid, but the concentrations in

people from the United States are much higher at approximately 35 ng/g

lipid. Current PBDE concentrations in marine mammals from the Canadian

Arctic are very low at approximately 5 ng/g lipid, but they have

increased exponentially with a doubling time of approximately 7 yr.

Marine mammals from the rest of the world have current PBDE levels of

approximately 1000 ng/g lipid, and these concentrations have also

increased exponentially with a doubling time of approximately 5 yr.

Some birds' eggs from Sweden are also highly contaminated (at

approximately 2000 ng/g lipid) and show PBDE doubling times of

approximately 6 yr. Herring gull eggs from the Great Lakes region now

have PBDE concentrations of approximately 7000 ng/g lipid, and these

levels have doubled every approximately 3 yr. Fish from Europe have

approximately 10 times lower PBDE concentrations than fish from North

America. From these and other data, it is clear that the environment

and people from North America are very much more contaminated with

PBDEs as compared to Europe and that these PBDE levels have doubled

every 4-6 yr. Analyses of the relative distributions of the most

abundant PBDE congeners (using category averages and principal

component analysis) indicated that these patterns cannot yet be used

to assign sources to these pollutants.

PMID: 14998004

There was a strong positive relationship between PBDE concentrations

in human milk and dietary intake of fish and shellfish, which was

established in the women from responses to a questionaire on food

consumption habits. The results of this study of food products

commonly consumed in Japan and the levels found in nursing women raise

a concern about low level PBDE contamination of fish and other foods

intended for human consumption.

PMID: 11999792

Polybrominated diphenyl ethers in retail fish and shellfish samples

purchased from Canadian markets.

Tittlemier SA, Forsyth D, Breakell K, Verigin V, JJ, Hayward S.

Food Research Division and Division of Biostatistics and Epidemiology,

Health Canada, Banting Research Centre 2203D, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada,

K1A 0L2.

Fish and shellfish retail samples (n = 122) were purchased from three

Canadian cities in the winter of 2002 and analyzed for a total of 18

polybrominated diphenyl ether (PBDE) congeners. The samples (salmon,

trout, tilapia, Arctic char, mussels, oysters, shrimp, and crab)

represented the range of fish and shellfish commercially available to

Canadian consumers at the time of purchase. Trout and salmon

(geometric mean SigmaPBDE = 1600 and 1500 pg/g, wet weight,

respectively) were found to contain significantly higher amounts of

PBDEs than the mussel, tilapia, and shrimp groups (geometric mean

SigmaPBDE = 260, 180, and 48 pg/g, wet weight, respectively). These

differences in SigmaPBDE concentrations among fish and shellfish

products were partly driven by differences in lipid content among the

samples. Mean SigmaPBDE concentrations in domestic samples were also

significantly greater than in imported samples, possibly reflecting

global environmental distribution of PBDEs. These concentration

differences will contribute to variations in dietary exposure to PBDEs

when assorted fish and shellfish items from various origins are consumed.

PMID: 15675828