Appendix D Food Codes for NHANES - OEHHA

Scientific Review PanelSRP Draft Version 2 February,June 2012
second round, in which concentrations of PCBs, PCDDs and PCDFs were
determined in milk samples collected in 47 areas from 19 different countries,
mean levels in industrialized countries ranged from 10-35 pg I-TEQ/g-milk (Liem
et al., 2000).
Much lower levels (40% lower than 1993) were detected in the 3 rd round (Liem et
al., 1995; Liem et al., 2000; van Leeuwen and Malisch, 2002) WHO exposure
study. Nevertheless, several recent investigators have continued to measure
levels of dioxin-like compounds in breast milk (LaKind et al., 2004; Barr et al.,
2005; Wang and Needham, 2007; Li et al., 2009). PCBs still appear in human
milk and are still much higher than the total concentrations of PCDDs and
PCDFs. Several studies report pg/g-fat levels of PCDD/Fs compared to ng/g-fat
levels of PCBs (100 to 1000 times higher) measured in human milk (Chao et al.,
2003; Chao et al., 2004; Hedley et al., 2006; Sasamoto et al., 2006; Harden et
al., 2007; Wittsiepe et al., 2007; Raab et al., 2008; Todaka et al., 2008).
Thus, nursing infants have the potential to ingest substantial doses during the
breastfeeding period, relative to typical total lifetime dose of these compounds
from global sources. Consequently, this pathway of exposure may supply a
substantial fraction of PCDDs and PCDFs (about 25%) of the infant’s total
lifetime dose of these compounds (USEPA, 2000). Several studies have detected
higher levels of PCBs in the sera (Schantz et al., 1994), adipose tissues (Niessen
et al., 1984; Teufel et al., 1990) and bone marrow (Scheele et al., 1995) of mostly
breast-fed children relative to partially breast fed infants. These studies were
conducted many years after PCBs were banned and no longer used in
commercial products. Some investigators have reported a 4-fold greater level of
PCBs in the blood of fully breast-fed compared to partially breast-fed infants
(Niessen et al., 1984).
In another study, Abraham et al (1994, 1996, 1998) measured elevated PCB
concentrations in nursing infants after approximately one year of feeding
(Abraham et al., 1994; Abraham et al., 1996; Abraham et al., 1998). These
authors reported levels of 34 to 45 ppt (pg TEQ/g blood lipid) among breastfed
infants versus 3 to 3.3 ppt blood lipid PCDD/F TEQ concentrations among
formula fed infants.
Numerous studies have measured dioxins, furans and dioxin-like PCBs in
mother’s milk (Liem et al., 2000) The twenty nine dioxin-like PCBs listed in Table
J.2-1 are recognized by OEHHA as carcinogens and have potency factors
associated with them (OEHHA, 2008). Concentrations of TCDD (2,3,7,8tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin),
the most toxic PCDD, are low relative to other
PCDDs and more than 50% of the total PCDD content consists of Octa-CDD.
Early studies found around 70% of the total Hexa-CDDs (HxCDDs) is 1,2,3,6,7,8-
HxCDD, and the remainder is mainly 1,2,3,4,7,8-HxCDD and 1,2,3,7,8,9-HxCDD
(USEPA, 1998). These proportions have not shifted in recent studies (Sasamoto
et al., 2006; Zhao et al., 2007; Raab et al., 2008).
J-7