Abstract

Breast milk contamination with organochlorine pesticides reflects long periods of inadequately and sometimes uncontrolled pollution of the environment. Among other fat-soluble substances, they accumulate in fatty tissues, get biomagnified through the food chain and are subsequently transferred from lactating mothers to their offsprings. Their toxic effects are dose related. The goals of this study were to determine the levels of organochlorine pesticides in the milk of lactating mothers in the region of Beirut years after banning of their use. 60 samples of breast milk were collected, and mothers were asked about their demographic features and behavioral and dietary habits. We used the CPG-MS method for organochlorine levels measurements. 55% of samples were tested positive for at least one organochlorine pesticide and 16.7% of these levels exceeded Maximal Residue Limits. DDE, a metabolite of DDT is the most encountered contaminant (35% of samples). Lindane levels are the most toxic. No correlation was found between the levels of organochlorine pesticides and the demographic and behavioral features of the population. Fish consumption was correlated with p-p’DDE levels (p = 0.036), poultry consumption was correlated with p-p’DDD (p < 0.01), and total DDT levels (p < 0.01) and milk consumption was correlated with HCB levels (p = 0.023). No correlation was found between organochlorine pesticides levels and maternal consumption of fruits and vegetables.

Keywords: Organochlorine Pesticides; DDT; Lindane; Breast Milk; Bio-Indicator; Toxicity; Pollution; Environment

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Citation

Citation: Fares Florence. “Organochlorine Pesticides in the Breast Milk of Lebanese Women: Magnitude of the Environmental Burden 25 Years After Banning their use”. Acta Scientific Paediatrics 5.5 (2022): 58-64.

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Copyright: © 2022 Fares Florence. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.