Levels of certain metals, organochlorine pesticides and dioxins in cord blood, maternal blood, human milk and some commonly used nutrients in the surroundings of the Aral Sea (Karakalpakstan, Republic of Uzbekistan)

Abstract

Further epidemiological research is needed to elucidate the health implications of these pollutants on perinatal and maternal health, including lactation. More importantly, an investigation should be initiated to identify the emission sources of persistent organic pollutants in Karakalpakstan and adjacent regions.

Assessment of dietary exposure to some persistent organic pollutants in the Republic of Karakalpakstan of Uzbekistan.

“…Dioxins in breast milk were 2.5 times the levels found in the Ukraine, and maternal 2,3,7,8-TCDD body burdens were 5 times higher than in The Netherlands (Ataniyazova et al 2001).…”

“…A realistic hypothesis is that water and food have been contaminated with 2,3,7,8-TCDD from use of 2,4,5-trichlorophenoxyacetic acid (a component of Agent Orange), a phenoxy acid herbicide that often contains dioxin and related compounds as impurities. Although use of dioxin-contaminated 2,4,5-trichlorophenoxyacetic acid defoliant in cotton cultivation has been documented in neighboring Kazakhstan (Hooper et al 1998) and hypothesized in a recent study on prenatal dioxin exposure in the study area (Ataniyazova et al 2001), no official data confirming use of this substance in Uzbekistan are currently available.…”

“…Exposure to these "environmental estrogens" leads to a reduction in the amount of breast milk and fat content and is potentially harmful to infants, especially in deprived conditions (Amador et al 1994;Perez-Escamilla 1993). A recent study has shown an average decline in both the initiation and the duration of breast-feeding over the last 10 years in Karakalpakstan (Ataniyazova et al 2001). Thus, this potential impact of toxic chemical exposure may already be contributing to high regional childhood morbidity and mortality, because breast-feeding is recognized as the optimal method of infant feeding (Howie et al 1990;Lanting et al 1994).…”

“…Karakalpak Veterinary Authority, collected samples from the same three towns (Nukus, Chimbay, and Kanlikul) in Karakalpakstan where toxicologic investigation of human breast milk and maternal and cord blood had recently been carried out (Ataniyazova et al 2001). The study team chose food types for sampling based both on their capacity to accumulate organochlorine pesticides and dioxins and on patterns of food consumption in Karakalpakstan known from a recent household dietary assessment carried out in Nukus (MSF 2001).…”

Dioxin-like components in human breast milk collected from Hong Kong and Guangzhou

“…Nevertheless, the results were similar to our previous analysis of breast milk PCBs, p,p 0 -DDT, p,p 0 -DDE, and HCH levels, in which the contamination levels in the two cities were comparable, although they were higher in the Guangzhou populations (Wong et al, 2002). In other countries, the detectable dioxin concentrations, in terms of chemical-TEQ (C-TEQ), have been 9.6-35 pg/g fat (PCDD/ PCDF) in Sweden (Glynn et al, 2001), 9.9-48.5 pg/g fat (PCDD/PCDF/CoPCB) in Japan (Nakagawa et al, 1999), 16-40.2 pg/g fat (PCDD/PCDF) in the Republic of Uzbekistan (Ataniyazova et al, 2001), 21-53 pg/g fat (PCDD/PCDF) in agricultural regions of southern Kazakhstan (Hooper et al, 1999), and 5.9-17.1 pg/g fat (PCDD/PCDF) in Spain (Schuhmacher et al, 1999). Despite the results indicated above, EROD-TEQ and C-TEQ analyses have particular pros and cons, and thus caution should be taken in when interpreting the data.…”