title: Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in air, soil, and cereal crops along the two tributaries of River Chenab, Pakistan: concentrations, distribution, and screening level risk assessment.
abstract: This study reports the first systematic data on PCB levels and their risk assessments by consumption of cereal food crops from Pakistan. Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB) including dioxin-like PCBs (dl-PCBs) were analyzed in wheat (n=28), rice (n=28), air (n=6), and soil (n=28) samples to assess the levels, spatial distribution pattern, and their risk assessments along with the two tributaries of River Chenab, Pakistan. ∑33PCB concentrations ranged between 0.15-2.22 ng g(-1)dW, 0.05-9.21 ng g(-1)dW, 0.70-30.5 ng g(-1)dW and 41-299 pg m(-3) in the wheat, rice, soil, and air samples, respectively. In the current study, comparatively lower dioxin toxicity equivalency (TEQ) values were calculated from the previously reported data. Hazardous ratio (HR) for human health risk assessment allied to non-cancer was found lower than integrity.
authors.affiliation: Environmental Biology Laboratory, Department of Plant Sciences, Faculty of Biological Sciences, Quaid-I-Azam University, Islamabad 45320, Pakistan.
authors.forename: Adeel
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mahmood
authors.affiliation: Environmental Biology Laboratory, Department of Plant Sciences, Faculty of Biological Sciences, Quaid-I-Azam University, Islamabad 45320, Pakistan.
authors.forename: Jabir Hussain
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Syed
authors.affiliation: Environmental Biology and Ecotoxicology Laboratory, Department of Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Biological Sciences, Quaid-I-Azam University, Islamabad 45320, Pakistan. Electronic address: n_malik2000@yahoo.co.uk.
authors.forename: Riffat Naseem
authors.initials: RN
authors.lastname: Malik
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Organic Geochemistry, Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510640, China.
authors.forename: Qian
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Organic Geochemistry, Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510640, China.
authors.forename: Zhineng
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Cheng
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Organic Geochemistry, Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510640, China.
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Organic Geochemistry, Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510640, China.
authors.forename: Gan
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Zhang
mesh_terms: D001272:Atmosphere / Q000737:chemistry; D004147:Dioxins / Q000032:analysis; D002523:Edible Grain / Q000737:chemistry*; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D004785:Environmental Pollutants / Q000032:analysis*; D004787:Environmental Pollution / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010154:Pakistan; D011078:Polychlorinated Biphenyls / Q000032:analysis*; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012987:Soil / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D004147:Dioxins; D004785:Environmental Pollutants; D012987:Soil; D011078:Polychlorinated Biphenyls
keywords: Air; Cereal crops; PCBs; Risk assessment; River Chenab; Soil