WA2 Chemical and Biological Analysis of Endocrine Disrupting Compounds
255 Portland Ballroom
8:00 AM - 12:00 PM, Wednesday
() How estrogenic are Swiss rivers? A comparative approach using chemical analysis, bioassays and model predictions.
Suter, M1, Strehler, A1, Schoenenberger, R1, Vermeirssen, E2, Eggen, R1, Burkhardt-Holm, P2, 1 Swiss Federal Inst. for Environmental Science & Technology, Duebendorf, Switzerland2 University of Basel, Program MGU, Basel, Switzerland
ABSTRACT- Previous investigations at EAWAG have shown that some effluents of Swiss wastewater treatment plants (WWTP) and receiving rivers are estrogenic to fish (1). While all effluents and rivers containing steroidal estrogens at or above lowest effect concentrations (LOEC for vitellogenin induction in male rainbow trout) indicated estrogenic activity in the yeast estrogen screen (YES), not all exposed male fish showed induced vitellogenesis. The results also show that being able to determine steroidal estrogen concentrations below the LOEC strongly depends on the sample matrix and is often not possible. Additionally, the uncertainties associated with concentrations in the ng/L range are at best 20%, but more often up to 100% or more. An alternative technique, which gives similar results but at much lower cost, is exposure modelling, based on the work done by Johnson and co-workers (2-4). The input of steroidal estrogens into receiving waters clearly depends on the people living in the catchment of a WWTP. Using census data (number of people, sex, and age distribution), typical elimination rates in WWTPs, and dilution factors, the final concentration that fish are exposed to can be predicted. Measured chemical data and estrogenicities obtained with the yeast estrogen screen for several rivers in Switzerland will be presented and compared to model-based concentrations. (1) Aerni H-R, Kobler B, Rutishauser BV, Wettstein FE, Fischer R, Giger W, Hungerbühler A, Marazuela MD, Peter A, Schönenberger R, Vögeli AC, Suter MJ-F, Eggen RIL; Anal Bioanal Chem 2004, 378, 2445-2450. (2) Williams RJ, Jürgens MD, Johnson AC; Wat Res 1999, 33, 1663-1671. (3) Johnson AC, Belfroid AC, Di Corcia A; Sci Total Environ 2000, 256, 163-173. (4) Johnson AC, Sumpter JP; Environ Sci Technol 2001, 35, 4697-4703.
Key words: steroid hormones, model predictions, endocrine disrupters, exposure