How does PCB affect fishes?

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I am doing a research on how PCB affects fishes. How do fish get in contact with PCB? How and why do they get impacted by PCB?

Please answer with brief notes or just links to useful websites. Thank you so much! :)
 
PolyChlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs), are highly toxic industrial compounds. They pose serious health risks to fetuses, babies and children, who may suffer developmental and neurological problems from prolonged or repeated exposure to small amounts of PCBs. These chemicals are harmful to adults as well. Although they were banned from manufacture in the United States in 1977, PCBs are slow to break down and can persist in the environment at dangerous levels.

PCBs accumulate in the sediments at the bottoms of streams, rivers, lakes and coastal areas. These chemicals can build up in the fatty tissues of fish and other animals, and in high concentrations pose serious health risks to people who frequently eat contaminated fish. Based on available data on PCB concentrations in fish, Environmental Defense recommends limiting consumption of certain fish.

According to EPA, contaminated fish are a persistent source of PCBs in the human diet. PCBs are not highly toxic with a single dose (as in a single meal), but continued low levels of exposure (for example, eating contaminated fish over an extended period of time) may be harmful. EPA rates PCBs as "probable human carcinogens," since they cause cancer in laboratory animals. Other tests on laboratory animals show damage from PCBs to their circulatory, nervous, immune, endocrine and digestive systems.

A number of studies indicate that PCBs harm people, with fetuses and young children especially susceptible to the effects of PCBs on their developing nervous systems.
 
The PCB group consists of 209 individual compounds, called congeners because they are structurally related. Commercial mixtures containing 40 to 70 PCB congeners were marketed under the trade name Aroclor, such as Aroclor 1260. Because they do not burn easily and are good insulators, PCBs were used extensively in transformers, capacitors, and other electrical equipment.

PCBs have entered the environment partly because of accidental leaks and fires in electrical equipment, past disposal in dumps, accidents in transport, and leakage from hazardous waste sites. Their widespread distribution in the environment was also caused by their use as plasticizers, in inks and dyes, as ingredients in pesticides, in adhesives, in protective wood coatings, and in carbonless-copy paper.

Manufacture of PCBs stopped in the United States in 1977 because of evidence that PCBs build up in the environment and cause harmful effects. In the environment they persist for a long time. Usually they stick to soil or sediments and may remain there for years, but they also are found in the air, water and food. PCBs enter the bodies of fish from water, sediment, and from eating prey that have PCBs in their bodies. PCBs build up in fish and can reach levels hundreds of thousands of times higher than the levels in water.

In 1994, the San Francisco Water Quality Control Board conducted a pilot study on chemical contaminants in fish in San Francisco Bay and found significant levels of PCBs in fish throughout the bay. The levels of PCBs ranged from a low of 21 parts per billion (ppb) in brown smoothhound sharks to a high of 638 ppb in white croaker. The highest levels of PCBs were found in fish taken at sites near industrial parts of San Francisco and Oakland, but elevated levels were also found in the north and south parts of the bay.

These levels are about the same, or less than, levels of PCBs found in fish from Santa Monica Bay. In both of these bays, white croaker, a very fatty fish, had the highest amounts of PCBs. These levels are greater than PCB levels in fish from San Diego and Monterey Bays. They are also higher than PCB levels found in most lakes and rivers in California except for some freshwater sites that are mainly in Los Angeles and Orange counties.

Levels of PCBs in San Francisco and Santa Monica bays are about five to ten times below the levels found in sport fish in the Great Lakes region. That region has some of the most extensive PCB contamination in the country.

OEHHA has issued advisories where sport-caught fish have been found to contain PCBs above 100 ppb. The advisories provide guidance on how much fish you can safely eat. The consumption limits are often specific to the species and fishing locations. The advisories are available from OEHHA and are printed in the California Sport Fishing Regulations booklet.

useful websites:
Wisconsin Department of Health and Family Services website on fish consumption: http://dhfs.wisconsin.gov/eh/Fish/

Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources fish advisory information: http://dnr.wi.gov/fish/pages/consumption/
 
The PCB group consists of 209 individual compounds, called congeners because they are structurally related. Commercial mixtures containing 40 to 70 PCB congeners were marketed under the trade name Aroclor, such as Aroclor 1260. Because they do not burn easily and are good insulators, PCBs were used extensively in transformers, capacitors, and other electrical equipment.

PCBs have entered the environment partly because of accidental leaks and fires in electrical equipment, past disposal in dumps, accidents in transport, and leakage from hazardous waste sites. Their widespread distribution in the environment was also caused by their use as plasticizers, in inks and dyes, as ingredients in pesticides, in adhesives, in protective wood coatings, and in carbonless-copy paper.

Manufacture of PCBs stopped in the United States in 1977 because of evidence that PCBs build up in the environment and cause harmful effects. In the environment they persist for a long time. Usually they stick to soil or sediments and may remain there for years, but they also are found in the air, water and food. PCBs enter the bodies of fish from water, sediment, and from eating prey that have PCBs in their bodies. PCBs build up in fish and can reach levels hundreds of thousands of times higher than the levels in water.

In 1994, the San Francisco Water Quality Control Board conducted a pilot study on chemical contaminants in fish in San Francisco Bay and found significant levels of PCBs in fish throughout the bay. The levels of PCBs ranged from a low of 21 parts per billion (ppb) in brown smoothhound sharks to a high of 638 ppb in white croaker. The highest levels of PCBs were found in fish taken at sites near industrial parts of San Francisco and Oakland, but elevated levels were also found in the north and south parts of the bay.

These levels are about the same, or less than, levels of PCBs found in fish from Santa Monica Bay. In both of these bays, white croaker, a very fatty fish, had the highest amounts of PCBs. These levels are greater than PCB levels in fish from San Diego and Monterey Bays. They are also higher than PCB levels found in most lakes and rivers in California except for some freshwater sites that are mainly in Los Angeles and Orange counties.

Levels of PCBs in San Francisco and Santa Monica bays are about five to ten times below the levels found in sport fish in the Great Lakes region. That region has some of the most extensive PCB contamination in the country.

OEHHA has issued advisories where sport-caught fish have been found to contain PCBs above 100 ppb. The advisories provide guidance on how much fish you can safely eat. The consumption limits are often specific to the species and fishing locations. The advisories are available from OEHHA and are printed in the California Sport Fishing Regulations booklet.

useful websites:
Wisconsin Department of Health and Family Services website on fish consumption: http://dhfs.wisconsin.gov/eh/Fish/

Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources fish advisory information: http://dnr.wi.gov/fish/pages/consumption/
 
The PCB group consists of 209 individual compounds, called congeners because they are structurally related. Commercial mixtures containing 40 to 70 PCB congeners were marketed under the trade name Aroclor, such as Aroclor 1260. Because they do not burn easily and are good insulators, PCBs were used extensively in transformers, capacitors, and other electrical equipment.

PCBs have entered the environment partly because of accidental leaks and fires in electrical equipment, past disposal in dumps, accidents in transport, and leakage from hazardous waste sites. Their widespread distribution in the environment was also caused by their use as plasticizers, in inks and dyes, as ingredients in pesticides, in adhesives, in protective wood coatings, and in carbonless-copy paper.

Manufacture of PCBs stopped in the United States in 1977 because of evidence that PCBs build up in the environment and cause harmful effects. In the environment they persist for a long time. Usually they stick to soil or sediments and may remain there for years, but they also are found in the air, water and food. PCBs enter the bodies of fish from water, sediment, and from eating prey that have PCBs in their bodies. PCBs build up in fish and can reach levels hundreds of thousands of times higher than the levels in water.

In 1994, the San Francisco Water Quality Control Board conducted a pilot study on chemical contaminants in fish in San Francisco Bay and found significant levels of PCBs in fish throughout the bay. The levels of PCBs ranged from a low of 21 parts per billion (ppb) in brown smoothhound sharks to a high of 638 ppb in white croaker. The highest levels of PCBs were found in fish taken at sites near industrial parts of San Francisco and Oakland, but elevated levels were also found in the north and south parts of the bay.

These levels are about the same, or less than, levels of PCBs found in fish from Santa Monica Bay. In both of these bays, white croaker, a very fatty fish, had the highest amounts of PCBs. These levels are greater than PCB levels in fish from San Diego and Monterey Bays. They are also higher than PCB levels found in most lakes and rivers in California except for some freshwater sites that are mainly in Los Angeles and Orange counties.

Levels of PCBs in San Francisco and Santa Monica bays are about five to ten times below the levels found in sport fish in the Great Lakes region. That region has some of the most extensive PCB contamination in the country.

OEHHA has issued advisories where sport-caught fish have been found to contain PCBs above 100 ppb. The advisories provide guidance on how much fish you can safely eat. The consumption limits are often specific to the species and fishing locations. The advisories are available from OEHHA and are printed in the California Sport Fishing Regulations booklet.

useful websites:
Wisconsin Department of Health and Family Services website on fish consumption: http://dhfs.wisconsin.gov/eh/Fish/

Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources fish advisory information: http://dnr.wi.gov/fish/pages/consumption/
 
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