Environmental+Implications

====The Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB's) are the class of pollutants, which impart considerable impact on the environment and human lif e. This is due to their significant to their toxicity, high lipid activity, and high bio-accumulation capacity. PCB's were founded in the environment in the late 1960's. PCB's included air, water, soil, fish, wildlife, human blood etc. ====

The PCB's environmental concentrations in air varies from location to location. Surface water may be contaminated with PCB's from direct discharge from point sources or along with atmospheric fall out. Soil may become contaminated with PCB's from direct discharge from point sources. The presence of specified isomers of PCB congeners in Canada in fatty foods of the Canadian diet had been studied by Mes et.al. (1989) in which total of 93 food composites from the cities of Ottawa and Halifax were analyzed for 34 PCB's isomers.

** Table 4 PCB’s level in various Environmental Matrices ** ** range ** || ** Reference ** || (Industrial air borne Particulate Matter) || Ekstedt & Oden, 1974 || ng/m3 = Nanogram per cubic meter; ng/l = Nanogram per litre; µg/kg = Microgram per kilogram > **(0.1 µg/kg)** |||| ====Levels in the food samples==== ** (mg/kg) ** ||
 * ** Environmental Matrices ** || ** Country ** || ** PCB’s concentration **
 * ** Air ** || Canada || 0.002-0.07 ng/m3 || Bidleman __et.al.__, 1978 ||
 * ^  || Germany || 0.003-3.3 ng/m3 || DFG, 1988 ||
 * ^  || Japan || 4-650 µg/m3 || Tatsukawa & Waterable, 1972 ||
 * ^  || Sweden || 0.8-3.9 ng/m3
 * ^  || USA || 1-50 ng/m3 || Panel on Hazardous Substances, 1972 ||
 * ** Water ** || Germany || 5-103 ng/l || Lorenz & Neumeier, 1983 ||
 * ^  || Sweden || 0.1-0.3 ng/l || Ahnoff & Josefsson, 1974 ||
 * ^  || Netherlands || 100-500 ng/l || Wegman & Greve, 1980 ||
 * ^  || USA || 100-450 ng/l || Panel on Hazardous Substances, 1972 ||
 * ^  || India || 0.19-1.93 ng/l || CPCB, 1999 ||
 * ** Soil ** || Germany || 0.02-0.08 ng/kg || Markard, 1988 ||
 * ^  || Japan || < 1 ng/kg || Fukada __et.al.__, 1973 ||
 * ^  || United Kingdom || 0.2-12.2 µg/kg || Jones, 1989 ||
 * ^  ||^   || 2.3-55 µg/kg ||^   ||
 * ^  || USA || 0.6-1.7 ng/kg || Nimmo __et.al.__, 1971 ||
 * ^  || India || 0.616-8.93 µg/kg || CPCB, 1999 ||
 * ** S. **** No. ** || ** Food items ** ||  **% Sample with positive presence of PCB’s**
 * ^  ||^   ||^   || ===== Min ===== || ===== Max ===== ||
 * 1.  ||  Cheese  ||   6   ||   0.25   ||   1.0   ||
 * 2.  ||  Milk  ||   7   ||   2.3   ||   27.8   ||
 * 3.  ||  Eggs  ||   29   ||   0.55   ||   3.7   ||
 * 4.  ||  Fish  ||   54   ||   1.87   ||   35.3   ||

Some Graphs with PCB's Environmental Implications