title: Residues of organochlorine pesticides in surface soil and raw foods from rural areas of the Republic of Tajikistan.
abstract: The central Asian Republic of Tajikistan has been an area of extensive historical agricultural pesticide use as well as large scale burials of banned chlorinated insecticides. The current investigation was a four year study of legacy organochlorine pesticides in surface soil and raw foods in four rural areas of Tajikistan. Study areas included the pesticide burial sites of Konibodom and Vakhsh, and family farms of Garm and Chimbuloq villages. These areas were selected to represent a diversity of pesticide disposal histories and to allow assessment of local pesticide contamination in Tajikistan. Each site was visited multiple times and over 500 samples of surface soil and raw foods were collected and analyzed for twenty legacy organochlorine pesticides. Various local food products were sampled to represent the range of raw foods potentially containing residues of banned pesticides, including dairy products, meat, edible plant and cotton seed products. The pesticide analytes included DDTs (DDT, DDD, DDE), lindane isomers (α, β, γ, δ BHC), endosulfan isomers (endosulfan I, II, sulfate), other cyclodienes (aldrin, α and γ chlordanes, dieldrin, endrin, endrin aldehyde and ketone, heptachlor, heptachlor epoxide), and methoxychlor. Pesticide analytes were selected based on availability of commercial standards and known or suspected historical pesticide use and burial. Pesticide contamination was highest in soil and generally low in meat, dairy, and plant products. DDT was consistently the highest measured individual pesticide at each of the four sampling areas, along with BHC isomers and endosulfan II. Soil concentrations of pesticides were extremely heterogeneous at the Vakhsh and Konibodam disposal sites with many soil samples greater than 10 ppm. In contrast, samples from farms in Chimbuloq and Garm had low concentrations of pesticides. Pesticide contamination in raw foods was generally low, indicating minimal transfer from the pesticide sites into local food chains.
authors.affiliation: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Gulf Ecology Division, Gulf Breeze, FL 32561, USA. Electronic address: Barron.mace@epa.gov.
authors.forename: Mace G
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: Barron
authors.affiliation: Pharmaceutical Research Center, Ministry of Health and Social Security of the Republic of Tajikistan (PRCMHRT), Dushanbe, TJ 734036, Tajikistan.
authors.forename: Zebunisso J
authors.initials: ZJ
authors.lastname: Ashurova
authors.affiliation: V.I. Nikitin Institute of Chemistry, Academy of Sciences of Republic of Tajikistan (CHITAS), Dushanbe, TJ 734063, Tajikistan.
authors.forename: Mukhamadcho A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Kukaniev
authors.affiliation: V.I. Nikitin Institute of Chemistry, Academy of Sciences of Republic of Tajikistan (CHITAS), Dushanbe, TJ 734063, Tajikistan.
authors.forename: Hakbarqul K
authors.initials: HK
authors.lastname: Avloev
authors.affiliation: V.I. Nikitin Institute of Chemistry, Academy of Sciences of Republic of Tajikistan (CHITAS), Dushanbe, TJ 734063, Tajikistan.
authors.forename: Karim K
authors.initials: KK
authors.lastname: Khaidarov
authors.affiliation: Pharmaceutical Research Center, Ministry of Health and Social Security of the Republic of Tajikistan (PRCMHRT), Dushanbe, TJ 734036, Tajikistan.
authors.forename: Jamshed N
authors.initials: JN
authors.lastname: Jamshedov
authors.affiliation: Pharmaceutical Research Center, Ministry of Health and Social Security of the Republic of Tajikistan (PRCMHRT), Dushanbe, TJ 734036, Tajikistan.
authors.forename: Oygul S
authors.initials: OS
authors.lastname: Rahmatullova
authors.affiliation: V.I. Nikitin Institute of Chemistry, Academy of Sciences of Republic of Tajikistan (CHITAS), Dushanbe, TJ 734063, Tajikistan.
authors.forename: Sunbula S
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Atolikshoeva
authors.affiliation: V.I. Nikitin Institute of Chemistry, Academy of Sciences of Republic of Tajikistan (CHITAS), Dushanbe, TJ 734063, Tajikistan.
authors.forename: Sakina S
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Mamadshova
authors.affiliation: International Science and Technology Center, Krasnoproletarskaya 32-34, 127473 Moscow, Russian Federation.
authors.forename: Oksana
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Manzenyuk
mesh_terms: D000383:Agriculture; D005506:Food Contamination / Q000032:analysis*; D006843:Hydrocarbons, Chlorinated / Q000032:analysis*; D010573:Pesticide Residues / Q000032:analysis*; D066256:Raw Foods / Q000032:analysis*; D012423:Rural Health; D012987:Soil / Q000737:chemistry*; D012989:Soil Pollutants / Q000032:analysis*; D013620:Tajikistan
chemical_list: D006843:Hydrocarbons, Chlorinated; D010573:Pesticide Residues; D012987:Soil; D012989:Soil Pollutants
keywords: Contamination; Food; Organochlorine pesticides; Soil; Tajikistan