title: Decline in liver neoplasms in wild brown bullhead catfish after coking plant closes and environmental PAHs plummet.
abstract: Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in both sediment and brown bullhead catfish tissues from the Black River in Lorain County, Ohio, declined by 65% and 93%, respectively, between 1980 and 1982. Sediment PAHs declined an additional 99% by 1987, coincident with the closure of a coking facility in 1983. Contemporaneously, liver cancer in 3- to 4-year-old brown bullheads declined to about one-quarter the 1982 frequency (10% versus 39%) by 1987, while the percentage of livers without any proliferative lesions doubled (42% versus 20%). These changes were significant within age group. Our data affirm a cause-and-effect relationship between PAH exposure and liver cancer in wild fish. The data also support the efficacy of natural, unassisted remediation once the source of the pollution is eliminated.
authors.affiliation: LSC Field Research Station, Ohio State University, Columbus 43210, USA.
authors.forename: P C
authors.initials: PC
authors.lastname: Baumann
authors.forename: J C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Harshbarger
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000818:Animals; D003031:Coal; D005393:Fish Diseases / Q000139:chemically induced* / Q000453:epidemiology; D007059:Ictaluridae; D015994:Incidence; D007221:Industry; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000662:veterinary*; D009820:Ohio; D011083:Polycyclic Compounds / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000032:analysis; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000032:analysis
chemical_list: D003031:Coal; D011083:Polycyclic Compounds; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical