PH11 Bioaccumulation and Biotransformation of POPs
Exhibit Hall
8:00 AM - Thursday, 13 November 2003
(PH108) Accumulation of Hexabromocyclododecane and Polychlorinated Naphthalenes in Arctic Seabirds.
Helm, P1, Tomy, G1, Halldorson, T1, Norstrom, R2, Fisk, A3, 1 Freshwater Institute, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada2 National Wildlife Research Centre, Hull, Quebec, Canada3 University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia, United States
ABSTRACT- Hexabromocyclododecane (HBCDD) isomers and polychlorinated naphthalenes (PCNs) were measured in the livers of seabirds, including the thick-billed murre, black guillemot, black-legged kittiwake, and northern fulmar, collected in the Northwater Polynya between Ellesmere Island (Canada) and Greenland in 1998. HBCDD is a brominated flame retardant whose use is on the rise in foam insulation and upholstery textiles. PCNs were used prior to PCBs in the electrical industry but are also contaminants in PCB mixtures and produced via combustion processes such as waste incineration. PCNs are proposed additions to the UN-ECE POPs Protocol. Both 
- and 
-isomers of HBCDD were detected with lipid-corrected concentrations of -HBCDD ranging from 1.4-7.2 ng/g and -HBCDD ranging from 0.9-10.4 ng/g. 
PCNs (tri- to heptaCNs) ranged from 2.2-5.5 ng/g (lipid-corrected) for the black guillemot, thick-billed murre and black-legged kittiwake, but reached concentrations of 20.0 ng/g in northern fulmar liver. Congeners 42 (tetraCN), 52/60 (pentaCNs) and 66/67 (hexaCNs) were the dominant PCNs accounting for 70-96% of PCN. Variations in the congener patterns of HBCDD and PCNs suggest that metabolic differences exist between species for specific compounds. These results demonstrate that HBCDD and PCNs are sufficiently persistent to reach remote regions and are accumulating in the arctic food web.
Key words: POPs, bioaccumulation, PCNs, flame retardants