Investigation of organochlorine pesticide residues in samples of 40 nursing mothers residing in Tehran

• Main Authors: Afshar M, Tahery E, Alasty D
• Format: Article
• Language: fas
• Published: Tehran University of Medical Sciences 1997-09-01
• Series: Tehran University Medical Journal
• Online Access: http://journals.tums.ac.ir/PdfMed.aspx?pdf_med=/upload_files/pdf/5835.pdf&manuscript_id=5835

Organochlorine pesticides are a group of persistant compounds which have been used for a long time. Due to their stability, some of them such as DDT, BHC and their derivatives are still used in the areas with malaria epidemic condition, hence the chance of food contamination always exists. The present survey demonstrated that human milk is one of the best indicator substances in monitoring the environment and human body contamination by organochlorine compounds. We studied the level of residues in the milk of nursing mothers who could be exposed to these compounds through food chain in their contaminated environment. In this investigation, we collected 40 samples from the nursing mothers of two hospitals located in the north and south of Tehran. Detection was carried out by Gas chromatography (GC) with 3% OV17 column and Ni63 ECD (Electron Capture Detector). Reference substances were obtained from WHO. Results are discussed in the text.