Report on Global Monitoring Project Pesticide Research Laboratory ...

Preamble:
The titled project was initiated by the Regional Center of the Stockholm Convention Latin
America and the Caribbean (SCU), Laboratorio Tecnológico del Uruguay (LATU), Montevideo,
Uruguay. The financial support for the project was obtained from GEF/UNEP. A Memorándum
of Understanding (MOU) between the Pesticide Research Laboratory (PRL) , University of the
West Indies (UWI), Jamiaca and LATU was formally established in 2010 to strengthen the
national monitoring capacity, to build regional testing capacities and to develop data on POPs to
be incorporated in the global report for the Conference of the Parties of the Stockholm
Convention.
Introduction:
The Governing Council of UNEP decided in May 1995 to begin investigating POPs. Initially a
short list of the following twelve POPs known as „Dirty Dozon” was made to begin
investigation:
Aldrin, chlordane, DDT, dieldrin, endrin, heptachlor, hexachlorobenzene, mirex,polychlorinated
biphenyls, polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins, polychlorinated dibenzofurans, and toxaphene.
These compounds are halogenated aromatic compounds that are widespread and persistent
environmental pollutants (1).
POPs have three chemical characteristics that make them
intrinsically hazardous: they are stable (persistent), they are fat-seeking, and they have the
potential to act as endocrine disruptors (2).
The highly lipophilic and hydrophobic PCBs, dioxins (PCDDs and PCDFs), and related
compounds tend to partition into soil and sediment, bioconcentrate from water to aquatic animal,
and biomagnify up the multistep food chain (3). Humans are also high on the food chain, eating
meat and dairy products from herbivores, as well as fish and plants (4). More than 90% of the
total daily human exposure to PCBs and dioxins is made up of oral intake from food, whereas
other routes, e.g., water, air and soil, contribute to less than 10% of total exposure (4)
The human fetus is exposed to PCBs and dioxins through placental transport, and higher
quantities of these compounds are transferred to the infant during breast-feeding. The
concentration of these compounds in breast milk is dependent on the maternal PCB and dioxin
body burden (5). This body burden is the result of accumulation of PCBs and dioxins over many
years, especially in fat tissue, combined with the low metabolic degradation and rate of excretion
(1).