A Systematic Review of Organochlorinated Pesticide Residues in Caspian Sea Fishes

Abstract

Context: The worldwide production and application of pesticides, especially organochlorine in agriculture can have adverse environmental pollution and human health risks. Thus, this review evaluated and summarized the toxicological data on the existence and concentrations of organochlorine compounds in Caspian sea fish tissues.Evidence Acquisition: The data were collected from published articles in PubMed, ISI, SID, Google Scholar and so on. Results: The review showed that nine studies were recorded in databases about pesticide residues in Caspian sea fish tissues. These studies reported that there is limited evidence of organochlorinated compounds in Caspian sea fishes. All researchers detected organochlorine contaminants in examined fishes in the studied area, however DDTs was the predominant pesticides. Heptachlor, Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs) and Linden were ranked next, respectively. Conclusions:In conclusion, toxicological studies showed that, although contamination level in Caspian sea fishes was relatively low, the present status might pose a risk about food chain contamination.Keywords: Pesticide Residues, Fish, Environmental Toxicology, Systematic Review, DDTs Context Caspian SeaThe Caspian sea (CS) with a volume and surface area of 78000 km 3 and 380000 km 2 , respectively, is the biggest land body of water in the world and a unique system that is surrounded by five countries: Iran (900 km), Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan and Russia (1). The Caspian sea has about 130 river inputs, but no output (1-3). Various pollutants have accumulated in the Caspian sea due to many human activity sewages, agricultural and industrial waste flowing into the landlocked system, which threaten directly or indirectly environment and human health especially through the food chain (4, 5). Organochlorinated PesticideThe use of pesticides and fertilizers has been substantially increased to increase additional production of crops around the world as a consequence of increased human population (6-8). In spite of the potential to prevent and control insects, disease vector and weed, some pesticides such as Organochlorine pesticides (OCs) can be toxic to human health, wildlife and have deleterious impacts on the environment (9, 10). There is strong evidence on the association with a wide range of diseases and exposure to pesticides (11). Exposure to organochlorine pesticides may result in health-related complications including reproductive defects (12, 13), carcinogenic effects (14) breast cancer risk (15) and behavioral changes (16). Organochlorinated pesticides are chlorinated hydrocarbons that are composed primarily of carbon, hydrogen and several chlorine atoms per molecule (16,17). Due to their hydrophobic characteristics, resistance to degradation, toxicity, least solubility in water, bioaccumulative nature, low vapour pressures and long-range transport and trans-boundary dispersion, the control of OCs in the environment is a real necessity (6,(17)(18)(19). Some of the most representative compounds in this...

Trace Elements and Contaminants Concentrations in Tissues of Caspian Seals (Pusa caspica) along the Iranian Coast

“…After the outbreak’s end, no further follow-up of trace elements and pesticide effects on the health status of and surveys on pesticide bioaccumulation in Caspian seals were performed [ 42 ]. However, these contaminants’ monitoring studies on Caspian Sea pollution have been continuously performed on other Caspian species since 2001 [ 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 , 48 , 49 , 50 , 51 ].…”