Organochlorines and mercury in blood of a fish-eating population at the River Elbe in Schleswig-Holstein, FRG.

Abstract

The blood of people living near the River Elbe who eat contaminated fish from the river was checked for organochlorines (n = 136): Hexachlorobenzene, HCB, the Hexachlorocyclohexanes beta-HCH, gamma-HCH, Octachlorostyrene, OCS, p,p-DDE and Mercury, Hg (n = 43). The concentrations (ng/ml blood) of OCS (less than 0.5-9.2) and Hg (1.1-79.2) can be attributed to fish consumption, those of the organochlorines--exept gamma-HCH--are related to age.