Painted surfaces – Important sources of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) contamination to the urban and marine environment

Polychlorinated biphenyls in sediments and fish species from the Murchison Bay of Lake Victoria, Uganda

“…The high levels of CB 118 in the two fish species could be due to the inability of the species to metabolize the congener after accumulation. The presence of CB 118 in our samples suggests paint additives, municipal waste plants, iron ore sintering plants or medical waste incinerators as potential sources of PCBs (Abad et al, 2006;Aries et al, 2006;Shin et al, 2006;Chen et al, 2009;Jartun et al, 2009 PCBs came from the residues of former applications like transformers, electrical equipment and other industrial uses. The use of these applications containing PCBs was common in Uganda before their commercial production was banned worldwide in 1979 (National Environment Management Authority, 2007 The non-ortho PCBs exhibited the highest contribution to the Σ 12 PCBs (N 75%) compared to the mono-ortho PCBs in both fish species.…”

Levels and spatial distribution of gaseous polychlorinated biphenyls and polychlorinated naphthalenes in the air over the northern South China Sea

“…This result implies that some Southeast Asian countries might be the major sources of PCBs rather than PCNs over the SCS, due to emission of PCBs from shipdismantling industry (Hess et al, 2001). In addition, the air samples collected at the harbor (samples 15, 17 and 18) displayed distinctly high concentrations of PCBs, possibly providing evidence of a strong local PCB source from the painted surfaces of buildings and vessels (Jartun et al, 2009;Jensen et al, 1972;Østberg and Schulze, 1998). At the end of the sampling (samples 30e32, see Fig.…”

Marine Litter in Nordic waters

“…A few Nordic studies have also put attention to pollution with paint flakes from constructions or from ship hulls in harbours and their potential release of toxic chemicals like TBT and PCBs (Jartun et al 2009, Eklund et al, 2008. Strand et al (in prep) also reported findings of microplastic flakes identified as acrylic paint in sediments from coastal areas in Denmark, especially in areas with high densities of ships.…”