Monsanto, PCBs, and the creation of a “world-wide ecological problem”

Markowitz, Gerald; Rosner, David

doi:10.1057/s41271-018-0146-8

Cited by 27 publications

(23 citation statements)

References 22 publications

(9 reference statements)

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“…The Burmese subpopulation’s relatively recent residence in the area compared to the licensed anglers, combined with their high level of current local fish consumption, suggest recent and ongoing exposures to industrial legacy contaminants. As a result of their prior residence in less developed/less industrialized areas, this refugee group was likely less exposed to some legacy industrial chemicals, such as PCBs, which were used extensively in the U.S. prior to the 1970s (Markowitz and Rosner, 2018). As expected, Burmese participants in this program had lower body burdens of PCBs as compared to the general U.S. population, however, they had higher levels of DDE which is an indicator of past exposure.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Biomonitoring of populations in Western New York at risk for exposure to Great Lakes contaminants

Savadatti

Liu

Caglayan

et al. 2019

Environmental Research

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The New York State Department of Health conducted the Healthy Fishing Communities Program in collaboration with the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry to assess human exposure to contaminants common to Lake Ontario, Lake Erie and surrounding rivers and waterways among populations in western New York State who eat locally caught fish. The program enrolled licensed anglers and Burmese refugees and immigrants, living near four designated Great Lakes Areas of Concern: Buffalo River, Niagara River, Eighteenmile Creek, and the Rochester Embayment. These target populations were sampled and enrolled independently into the program between February and October of 2013. A core set of contaminants were measured in blood and urine of 409 licensed anglers and 206 Burmese refugees and immigrants which included lead, cadmium, mercury, PCBs, PBDEs, organochlorine pesticides (hexachlorobenzene, mirex, DDT, DDE, and chlordane and its metabolites oxychlordane and trans-Nonachlor), and PFOS and PFOA. Biomonitoring results showed that both groups had higher geometric means for blood lead, total blood mercury, and serum PFOS compared to the 2013–2014 NHANES reference levels. The Burmese refugee group also showed higher geometric means for creatinine-adjusted urine mercury and lipid-adjusted serum DDE compared to national levels. Licensed angler participants reported eating a median of 16 locally caught fish meals in the past year. Burmese participants consumed local fish throughout the year, and most frequently in the summer (median 39 fish meals or 3 times a week). The study results provide valuable information on populations at high risk of exposure to contaminants in the Great Lakes Basin of western New York. The results provide the foundation for developing and implementing public health actions to reduce potential exposures to Great Lakes pollutants.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Biomonitoring of populations in Western New York at risk for exposure to Great Lakes contaminants

Savadatti

Liu

Caglayan

et al. 2019

Environmental Research

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“…Monsanto was the major manufacturer of the estimated 1.4 million tonnes of PCBs produced globally. 11 Markowitz and Rosner 12 recently published an interesting perspective. They conclude: Despite Monsanto's claim that it 'voluntarily' got out of the business (of PCB manufacture) in 1977, it was the concerted efforts of environmental activists, regulators, and the media that forced Monsanto finally to make this decision, because of its concern about the broad impact of the negative publicity on its image and ultimately its bottom line.'…”

Section: How the Story Startedmentioning

confidence: 99%

Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) and Related Chemicals in the Global Environment: Some Personal Reflections

Jones

2021

Environ. Sci. Technol.

136

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What are POPs and why are they interesting and important?In this article, I have been given the chance to 'tell the story' of POPs, through personal reflections on how the field has developed. I hope I can do that by conveying some of the sense of excitement, interest and importance for the environment and society that motivated me as a young research scientist and reflect on some of the ongoing needs and priorities for the environmental chemistry and chemicals management fields.Persistent organic pollutants (POPs) and related chemicals are fascinating, because of their combination of physical-chemical properties and complex effects. 1 Most are man-made, but some also have natural origins. They are persistent in the environment -but can be broken down -variously by biodegradation, atmospheric reactions, and abiotic transformations. They can exist in the gas or particle phases -or both -in the atmosphere, and in the dissolved or particulate phases -or both -in water. These combinations mean that they may undergo long-range transport in the atmosphere or oceans, or they may stay close to sources. Hence, emissions from one country are frequently a source of contamination to another country. They are also usually lipophilic, so -combined with persistence -this means they can accumulate in organisms and bio-magnify through food chains. We all have a baseline of POPs residues in our tissues -even the unborn foetus via placental transfer and the newly born baby via mother's milk. POPs in biological systems occur in mixtures, so confirming effects caused by POPs on humans and other top predators is never straightforward. Depending on which papers you read, POPs may be relatively benign, or they could be responsible for key sub-chronic and chronic

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“…Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are related to a larger group of environmental pollutants named persistent organic pollutants (POPs) with intense ecological burden and toxicological problems [1,2]. PCBs are halogenated aromatic hydrocarbons with special chemical formulas encompassing 209 congeners [3].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impact of PCBs, Furan and Dioxin on Hepatocarcinogenesis

Helal¹,

Ghanem²,

El-Sikaily³

2022

Environmental Sciences

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Stockholm Convention defined polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) as a group of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) such as dioxin/furan, dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane, polychlorinated biphenyls, polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins, aldrin, polychlorinated dibenzofurans and organometallic compounds (such as organotin and organomercury) which share the same characteristics of being persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic and can travel long distance through various media. They have diverse health impacts with different underlined molecular mechanisms. Recently, PCBs were referred as potent carcinogens with persistent existence in the environment. As the liver is the organ of detoxification, it is the major target organ for toxic effects induced by environmental contaminants, including PCBs. PCBs, furan and dioxin exert their hepatocarcinogenic effect through different mechanisms such as induction of oxidative stress, an increase of reactive oxygen species (ROS), mutagenic induction to oncogenes and epigenetic alteration to hepatic cells. In this chapter, we will provide an updated overview about PCBs, furan and dioxins, their impact on liver cancer initiation and progression on various in vivo and in vitro systems and its underlined molecular mechanisms. Also, a special emphasis will be directed to highlight zebrafish as in vivo model system to analyse the hepatocarcinogenic effect of these pollutants.

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Monsanto, PCBs, and the creation of a “world-wide ecological problem”

Cited by 27 publications

References 22 publications

Biomonitoring of populations in Western New York at risk for exposure to Great Lakes contaminants

Biomonitoring of populations in Western New York at risk for exposure to Great Lakes contaminants

Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) and Related Chemicals in the Global Environment: Some Personal Reflections

Impact of PCBs, Furan and Dioxin on Hepatocarcinogenesis

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