CONGENER PATTERN AND TOXIC ITY OF POLYCHLORINATED BIPHENYLS IN AQUATIC ORGANISMS FROM AN ELECTRONIC AND ELECTRICAL WASTE AREA

Electronic and electrical waste (E-waste) is a waste type consisting of any broken or unwanted electrical orlectronic app liance. Obsolete E-waste has become a serious problem. Many previous studies showed that persistent organ-c pollutants (POPs) and heavy metals caused serious contamination in air,soil,sediment and freshwater. It is drawingore and more attentions because of its adverse impacts on environment and human health. According to the State Envi-onmental Protection Administration of China,70% of worldwide e-waste has been sent to China. Taizhou region in Zhe-iang Province is one of the most intensive E-waste processing sites in China. Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) wereidely used worldwide as coolants and insulators in electrical capacitors and transformers,and as plasticizers in paint andubber sealant. Large quantities of PCBs have since entered the environment through leakage,disposal,and evaporation.CBs stability is also responsible for their continued presence in the environment even decades. Environmental levels ofCBs are traditionally measured as total PCB based on Aroclor equivalent analysis,as opposed to congener-specific con-entrations,due to analytical limitations and/or cost differentials. To evaluate the true risk of PCBs to human and ecosys-em health,more complex and,in turn,costly Dioxin-Like PCB-specific analytical methods (e. g.,U. S. EPA method668a) are available. Dioxin-like PCBs (dl-PCBs) are a group of 1- PCBs that share a common toxic mechanism with theost toxic dioxin compound (i. e.,-,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzop-dioxin or -,3,7,8-TCDD) and generally are amonghe most toxic PCB congeners as they incur toxic effects at relatively lower concentrations than those of non-dl-PCBs. Inhe present study,samp les of winkle,loach and crucian carp were collected from the e-waste area (Taizhou,Zhejing) in006. Dl-PCBswere determined in the samp les using isotope dilution Gas Chromatography/Mass Spectrometry (GC/MS)ethod. Our results showed that the average concentrations of PCBs were 1303. 53,3845. 00 and 5645. 34 ng/g lip ideight in winkle,loach and crucian carp,respectively. Toxic equivalencies (TEQs) were determined to be 1. 35,8. 44nd -9. 18 pgWHO-TEQ/gwetweight in winkle,loach and crucian carp,respectively. TEQs in winkle and crucian carpxceed the European maximum permissible level (-006) of TEQs in fish for human food. In addition,PCB 118 wasmajorongener and constituted 57. 73% -61. --% and 44. -7% -50. 61% of total PCBs and TEQs,respectively. Further-ore,PCB 118 was found to have linear correlations to the total PCBs and TEQs. The correlative coefficients (R- ) were. 9988 (P < 0. 0001) and 0. 9873 (P < 0. 0001). These results indicated that aquatic organisms from the e-waste areaave been seriously contaminated by PCBs which might come from Aroclor 1-54 released from E-waste dismantling.