Asia-Pacific mussel watch: monitoring contamination of persistent organochlorine compounds in coastal waters of Asian countries.
Contamination of persistent organochlorines (OCs) such as PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls), DDT and its metabolites (DDTs), HCH (hexachlorocyclohexane) isomers (HCHs), chlordane compounds (CHLs), and HCB (hexachlorobenzene) were examined in mussels collected from coastal waters of Asian countries such as Cambodia, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Philippines, Far East Russia, Singapore, and Vietnam in 1994, 1997, 1998, 1999, and 2001 to elucidate the contamination status, distribution and possible pollution sources and to assess the risks on aquatic organisms and human. OCs were detected in all mussels collected from all the sampling sites investigated. Considerable residue levels of p,p(')-DDT and alpha-HCH were found in mussels and the concentrations of DDTs and HCHs found in mussels from Asian developing countries were higher than those in developed nations suggesting present usage of DDTs and HCHs along the coastal waters of Asian developing countries. On the other hand, lower concentrations of PCBs detected in mussels from Asian developing countries than those in developed countries indicate that PCBs contamination in mussels is strongly related to industrial and activities. To our knowledge, this is a first comprehensive report on monitoring OCs pollution in the Asia-Pacific region.
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Center for Marine Environmental Studies, Ehime University, Tarumi 3-5-7, Matsuyama 790-8556, Japan.
Ueno
Daisuke
D
Takahashi
Shin
S
Nakata
Haruhiko
H
Sudaryanto
Agus
A
Subramanian
Annamalai
A
Karuppiah
Subramanian
S
Ismail
Ahmad
A
Muchtar
Muswerry
M
Zheng
Jinshu
J
Richardson
Bruce J
BJ
Prudente
Maricar
M
Hue
Ngyen Duc
ND
Tana
Touch Seang
TS
Tkalin
Alexander V
AV
Tanabe
Shinsuke
S
D000818:Animals; D001208:Asia; D049872:Bivalvia; D003634:DDT / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000032:analysis; D003906:Developing Countries; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000379:methods*; D004785:Environmental Pollutants / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000032:analysis; D001556:Hexachlorocyclohexane / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000032:analysis; D007221:Industry; D007306:Insecticides / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000032:analysis; D011078:Polychlorinated Biphenyls / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000032:analysis; D018570:Risk Assessment
D004785:Environmental Pollutants; D007306:Insecticides; D001556:Hexachlorocyclohexane; D003634:DDT; D011078:Polychlorinated Biphenyls