title: A study on PCB, PCDD/PCDF industrial contamination in a mixed urban-agricultural area significantly affecting the food chain and the human exposure. Part I: soil and feed.
abstract: This study deals with a PCB, PCDD and PCDF contamination in Brescia, a city in the North-West of Italy, affecting an area with about 11000 inhabitants. The area is close to an industrial plant that produced, in total, some 31,000 ton of PCB. A relevant part of the polluted area is agricultural soil, where cattle were fed with polluted forage and farmers were consuming their own products, so that contamination led eventually to human exposure. Total levels of PCDD/Fs varied from 8 to 592 pgTE(WHO)/g for soil samples and when the dioxin-like PCBs (dl-PCBs) are included, the levels varied from 14.6 to 1033.7 pgTE(WHO)/g. In several cases, the legal limit was exceeded by more than one order of magnitude, with the highest contamination in some agricultural areas and in the surrounding zones. For the forage samples, total levels of PCDD/Fs varied from 0.29 to 2.04 pgTE(WHO)/g and, when dl-PCBs are included, this range increased from 2.04 to 4.75 pgTE(WHO)/g. PCB contamination of the forage through vapor condensation seemed to be relevant. The toxic contribution of dl-PCBs is always relevant and must be considered for risk management. The main component of the contamination source is probably a heavy PCB mixture, such as Aroclor 1262. The study dealt generally with the contamination transfer of PCBs, PCDDs and PCDFs from soil up to humans across the food chain. Results on soils and forages are shown, while measurements concerning the contamination of the animals fed with contaminated forage, and the exposure of the farmers (through human serum analyses), as compared to general population, will be reported in a dedicated paper.
authors.affiliation: Istituto Superiore di Sanità, viale Regina Elena 299, 00161 Rome, Italy. lturrio@iss.it
authors.forename: Luigi
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Turrio-Baldassarri
authors.forename: Vittorio
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Abate
authors.forename: Silvia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Alivernini
authors.forename: Chiara Laura
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Battistelli
authors.forename: Sergio
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Carasi
authors.forename: Marialuisa
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Casella
authors.forename: Nicola
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Iacovella
authors.forename: Anna Laura
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Iamiceli
authors.forename: Annamaria
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Indelicato
authors.forename: Carmelo
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Scarcella
authors.forename: Cinzia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: La Rocca
mesh_terms: D000383:Agriculture; D001572:Benzofurans / Q000032:analysis*; D002947:Cities; D000072338:Dibenzofurans, Polychlorinated; D004781:Environmental Exposure; D020387:Food Chain; D005506:Food Contamination / Q000032:analysis*; D005843:Geography; D006801:Humans; D007220:Industrial Waste; D007558:Italy; D011078:Polychlorinated Biphenyls / Q000032:analysis*; D000072317:Polychlorinated Dibenzodioxins / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000032:analysis; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012989:Soil Pollutants / Q000032:analysis*
chemical_list: D001572:Benzofurans; D000072338:Dibenzofurans, Polychlorinated; D007220:Industrial Waste; D000072317:Polychlorinated Dibenzodioxins; D012989:Soil Pollutants; D011078:Polychlorinated Biphenyls