Accumulation of polychlorinated biphenyls in fish and assessment of dietary exposure: a study in Hyderabad City, India

Abstract

The objective of this study is to determine the concentrations of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in different fish species collected from fish outlets in the south Indian city of Hyderabad. The samples of fish extracted by using Quick, Easy, Cheap, Effective, Rugged, and Safe (QuEChERS) and concentrations of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs, 45 congeners) were determined by gas chromatography-microelectron capture detection (GC-μECD) method. The intake of individual PCB congeners through fish, toxicity equivalence factors (TEFs), hazardous quotient, quantitative assessment, and risk evaluations was estimated in the Indian population. Daily dietary intakes of PCBs at the 95th-percentile-measured concentrations were twice the values of the 50th-percentile-measured concentrations in all socio-economic groups. The dietary intakes of PCBs through fish consumption in middle-income group, low-income group, and industrial laborers (0.023 μg kg(-1) day(-1)), the high-income group (0.031 μg kg(-1) day(-1)), and slum dwellers (0.039 μg kg(-1) day(-1)) exceeded the reference dose. The observed estimated daily intakes (EDIs) of our study for all socio-economic sections (0.0087 μg/kg/day) crossed the cancer benchmark concentration of 0.0003 μg/kg/day. In slum dwellers, the ingestion of fish from freshwater and marine water results in the highest lifetime cancer risks of 4.7 in 100,000 and 7.8 in 100,000, respectively. Ultimately, the concentrations of PCBs were determined high in all of the fish species collected. Risk assessment showed that the fish were highly contaminated with PCBs and may pose health threats to consumers in the city of Hyderabad as well as a lifetime cancer risk.

Keywords: Hazard ratios; Homologue profile; Polychlorinated biphenyls; Socio-economic sections; Toxic equivalency quotient.