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Screening of human health risk to infants associated with the polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) levels in human milk from Punjab Province, Pakistan

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Abstract

This study assessed the polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) levels in human milk and its associated health risk to infants from rural and urban settings of five districts of Punjab Province, Pakistan. The ∑34PCB concentrations ranged from 30.9 to 68.3 ng g−1 on lipid weight (l.w.) basis. The ∑8DL-PCB concentrations were ranged from 0.29 to 1.35 ng g−1 l.w., (mean 6.2 ± 8.7 ng g−1 l.w.), with toxicity equivalent to polychlorinated dibenzodioxins (PCDDs) ranging from 8.58 × 10−6 to 0.05 ng TEQ g−1 l.w. The spatial trend of PCB levels in human milk revealed higher bioaccumulative levels for urban mothers as compared with rural counterparts. The estimated daily intake (EDI) values of DL-PCBs to infants through trans-mammary transfer were considerably higher than tolerable daily intake limits established by WHO (i.e., 1–4 pg TEQ kg−1 bw) and other globally recognized organizations. Similarly, the hazard quotient values for TEQ ∑8DL-PCBs (range 1.21 to 79.87) were far above the benchmark value of 1 at all the sampling sites, indicating the high levels of adverse health risks to infants in the region through breast milk consumption. The ∑34PCB levels were found to be negatively correlated with mother’ age (r = −0.31; p = 0.02), parity (r = − 0.85; p = 0.001), and infant’ birth weight (r = − 0.73; p = 0.01). The present study suggests undertaking comprehensive public health risk assessment studies and firm regulatory measures to safeguard human health risks.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of the Punjab, Lahore, 54590, Pakistan

    Anber Naqvi, Abdul Qadir, Iqra Aslam & Nadia Jamil

  2. Department of Environmental Science, Government College for Women University, Sialkot, 51310, Pakistan

    Adeel Mahmood

  3. Sustainable Development Study Centre, Government College University, Lahore, 54000, Pakistan

    Mujtaba Baqar

  4. State Key Joint Laboratory of Environment Simulation and Pollution Control (SKJLESPC), Beijing Key Laboratory for Emerging Organic Contaminants Control (BKLEOC), School of Environment, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, People’s Republic of China

    Mehvish Mumtaz

  5. Food and Biotechnology Research Center, Pakistan Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, Lahore, 54600, Pakistan

    Salman Saeed

  6. State Key Laboratory of Organic Geochemistry, Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, 510640, People’s Republic of China

    Gan Zhang

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  1. Anber Naqvi
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  2. Abdul Qadir
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Naqvi, A., Qadir, A., Mahmood, A. et al. Screening of human health risk to infants associated with the polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) levels in human milk from Punjab Province, Pakistan. Environ Sci Pollut Res 27, 6837–6850 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-019-07126-2

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