Residues of Organochlorines and TEQs in Fish Collected in the Adriatic Sea
75
Table 2. Correlation between PCB and DDT levels in muscle fillets
Northern Adriatic
rvalues
Central Adriatic
rvalues
Sprattus sprattus"'
0.72
Sardina pilchardus
0.77
Sardina pilchardus
Merluccius merluccius
0.93
Merluccius merluccius
0.98
Boops boops
0.65
Scomber japonicus
0.86
Sardina pilchardus
0.77
Mullus barbatus
0.98
• Liver tissue correlation T = 0.99
from a toxicological point of view in the light of
the new concept of toxic equivalents (TEQs).
recently introduced to simplify risk assessment
and regulatory control for dioxin-like compounds including PCBs (Ahlborg et al. 1994).
The interim described by WHO/IPCS indicated
some PCB congeners (mono-ortho and di-ortho)
for calculating toxic equivalency factors (TEF)
for human intake such as IUPAC number PCB118,PCB-156 and PCB-189. By using this calculation for the TEFs. we reported the TEQ values for
all the species studied with reference to liver and
muscle levels (Table 3). The highest values were
reported for mono- and di-ortho in liver of
Merluccius merluccius (TEQ values: 1.02-3.89
and 3.99-0.9) and for muscle of Sardina
pilchardus (TEQ values 0.58-0.34 and 0.52-0.32).
The values reported by Ahlborg et al. (1994)
Table 3. Toxic equivalents (TEQs) according to the WHO/IPCS TEFs approach cited by Ahlborg et aI. (1994)
TEQ mono-ortho
TEQ di-ortho
Northern Adriatic
PCB 118
PCB156
PCB189
Total
PCBl80
PCBl70
Total
Liver
Merluccius merluccius
2.12
1.66
0.12
3.89
0.53
3.46
3.99
Sardina pilchardus
0.26
0.14
0.03
0.43
0.07
0.46
0.53
Sprattus sprattus
0.41
0.307
0.003
0.72
0.06
0.43
0.49
Muscle
Merluccius merluccius
0.022
0.05
0.005
0.08
0.017
0.11
0.13
Sardina pilchardus
0.31
0.23
0.036
0.58
0.073
0.443
0.52
Sprattus sprattus
0.28
0.14
0.008
0.43
0.04
0.26
0.30
TEQ mono-ortho
TEQ ill-ortho
Central Adriatic
PCB 118
PCBlS6
PCB189
Total
PCB180
PCB 170
Total
Liver
Merluccius merluccius
0.62
0.37
0.028
1.02
0.13
0.77
0.9
Sardina pilchardus
0.33
0.18
0.02
0.53
0.076
0.437
0.51
Scomber japonicus
0.09
0.Q7
0.01
0.17
0.02
0.14
0.16
Mullu! barbatus
0.13
0.096
0.013
0.24
0.03
0.2
0.23
Beeps boops
0.17
0.22
0.01
0.4
0.06
0.4
0.46
Muscle
Merluccius merluccius
0.26
0.11
0.009
0.38
0.04
0.25
0.29
Sardina pilchardus
0.22
0.11
0.006
0.34
0.05
0.28
0.32
Scomber japonicus
0.02
0.02
0.002
0.04
0.005
0.038
0.04
Mullus barbatus
0.086
0.04
0.003
0.13
0.014
0.09
0.1
Boops hoops
0.027
0.025
0.001
0.05
0.007
0.053
0.06