title: Biomonitoring of selected persistent organic pollutants (PCDD/Fs, PCBs and PBDEs) in Finnish and Russian terrestrial and aquatic animal species.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The Finnish and Russian animal species (semi-domesticated reindeer, Finnish wild moose, Baltic grey seal and Baltic herring) samples were biomonitored in terrestrial and aquatic environments for polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans (PCDD/Fs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and polybrominated diphenylethers (PBDEs).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Grey seal (Halichoerus grypus) was clearly the most contaminated species. The mean PBDE concentration in grey seal was 115 ng/g fat, and the highest WHO-PCDD/F-PCB-TEQ (toxic equivalent set by WHO) was 327 pg/g fat. In Finnish, reindeer WHO-PCDD/F-TEQ varied from 0.92 pg/g fat in muscle to 90.8 pg/g fat in liver. WHO-PCDD/F-TEQ in moose liver samples was in the range of 0.7-4.26 pg/g fat, and WHO-PCB-TEQ in the range of 0.42-3.34 pg/g fat. Overall moose had clearly lower PCDD/F and DL-PCB concentrations in their liver than reindeer.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Terrestrial animals generally had low POP concentrations, but in reindeer liver dioxin levels were quite high. All Finnish and Russian reindeer liver samples exceeded the EU maximum level [8] for PCDD/Fs (10 pg/g fat), which is currently set for bovine animals.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, University of Oulu, P.O. Box 3000, 90014 Oulu, Finland.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Holma-Suutari
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Health, National Institute for Health and Welfare, P.O. Box 95, 70701 Kuopio, Finland.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Ruokojärvi
authors.affiliation: The All-Russian State Center for Quality and Standardization of Veterinary Drugs and Feed (VGNKI), Zvenigorodskoe Highway 5, Moscow, Russian Federation 123022.
authors.forename: A A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Komarov
authors.affiliation: The All-Russian State Center for Quality and Standardization of Veterinary Drugs and Feed (VGNKI), Zvenigorodskoe Highway 5, Moscow, Russian Federation 123022.
authors.forename: D A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Makarov
authors.affiliation: The All-Russian State Center for Quality and Standardization of Veterinary Drugs and Feed (VGNKI), Zvenigorodskoe Highway 5, Moscow, Russian Federation 123022.
authors.forename: V V
authors.initials: VV
authors.lastname: Ovcharenko
authors.affiliation: The All-Russian State Center for Quality and Standardization of Veterinary Drugs and Feed (VGNKI), Zvenigorodskoe Highway 5, Moscow, Russian Federation 123022.
authors.forename: A N
authors.initials: AN
authors.lastname: Panin
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Health, National Institute for Health and Welfare, P.O. Box 95, 70701 Kuopio, Finland.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kiviranta
authors.affiliation: University of Helsinki, Nurminiementie 2, 93600 Kuusamo, Finland.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Laaksonen
authors.affiliation: Reindeer Research Station, Finnish Game and Fisheries Research Institute, Toivoniementie 246, 99100 Kaamanen, Finland.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nieminen
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Health, National Institute for Health and Welfare, P.O. Box 95, 70701 Kuopio, Finland ; Department of Environmental and Biological Sciences, University of Eastern Finland, 70211 Kuopio, Finland.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Viluksela
authors.affiliation: Risk Assessment Research Unit, Finnish Food Safety Authority Evira, Mustialankatu 3, 00790 Helsinki, Finland.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hallikainen
keywords: Animals; Biomonitoring; Dioxins; Liver; Organs