Pesticide Residues in Mother’s Milk - Pesticides: Evaluation of Environmental Pollution - page 556

lipid) and Japan (170 ng/g lipid; Haraguchi et al. 2009). DDT composition was dominated by
p,p′-DDE (94-96%), followed by p,p′-DDT (3-5%) and p,p′-DDD (1-2%) in most cases. The
levels of p,p′-DDD were the highest in mothers from Hanoi, whereas the levels of o,p′-DDT
were the highest in mothers from Beijing. Thus, the ratios of p,p′-DDE/p,p′-DDT and o,p′-
DDT/p,p′-DDT were significantly higher in Beijing than in the other regions ( Table 17.5 ).
Burke et al. (2003) reported that all samples contained detectable residues of p,p′-DDT
(urban mean 0.11 ± 0.18 mg/kg (n = 5), rural mean 0.07 ± 0.03 mg/kg (n = 5)) and p,p′-DDE
(urban mean 0.05 ± 0.04 mg/kg (n = 5), rural mean 0.76 ± 1.46 mg/kg (n = 5)). Residues of
HCB, β-HCH, α-endosulfan, and dieldrin were also detected in some samples. There was
no significant difference (at the 95% confidence level) in the levels of pesticides between
urban and rural areas. The levels of OCPs in the milk from Indonesian women were lower
than those reported from Indonesian women exposed to DDT through malaria eradication
schemes and were similar to levels reported from the United Kingdom and Japan.
In human breast milk from China, HCB levels were also higher than those in other
Asian countries. HCB has been produced in a large chemical factory along Ya-Er Lake,
which is located in the eastern part of Wuhan, Hubei province, and in an investigation,
high levels of HCB were detected in soils and sediments from this lake. In addition, high
concentrations of HCB were detected in tea leaves, indicating the recent use of this chemi-
cal as a fungicide (Tanabe and Kunisue 2007). These results imply that the use of HCB is
still continuing in China.
The results showed that the median levels (ranges) of total HCHs (four HCH isomers) in
human milk were 54.7 (5.7-159.3) ng/g lipid; and the median concentration of total DDTs
(DDT and its metabolites) were 2114.6 (329.1-6164.6) ng/g lipid. The predominant pollutant
in the HCH family was β-HCH. p,p′-DDE was a predominant pollutant in all DDEs, DDDs,
and DDTs for all the samples tested and accounted for more than 80% of total HCHs and
DDTs (Qu et al. 2010).
Human milk specimens from 55 women in Shijiazhuang urban and Tangshan rural areas
in Hebei Province in northern China were collected and analyzed for persistent organic
pollutants, such as p,p′-DDE, HCB, β-HCH, and dioxins. The concentrations of p,p′-DDE
and β-HCH in human milk from the primiparous mothers in Shijiazhuang (3330 and 108.8
ng/g fat, respectively) were higher than those in samples from mothers from Tangshan
(1916 and 21.2 ng/g fat, respectively). In addition, the level of p,p′-DDE correlated positively
with a dietary history of meat consumption or consumption of internal organs of pigs and
sheep (r = 0.38 and r = 0.52, respectively) but not with the intake frequencies of vegetables
and fruits in primiparous mothers. The higher level for p,p′-DDE may be due to a greater
intake of contaminated fatty foods in the industrialized areas (Sun et al. 2005).
Dicofol residues have been measured in human breast milk from China, Korea, and
Japan (Fujii et al. 2011). The geometric mean concentration (ng/g lipid) of dicofol in the
Japanese breast milk samples was 0.3 and significantly lower than that in Chinese (9.6) or
Korean breast milk samples (1.9). Although dicofol has not been used in Japan since 2004,
residual dicofol may be present in imported food products from China, Korea, and other
countries where dicofol is still in usage.
In Japan, contamination levels of OCPs such as DDTs, HCHs, CHls, and HCB were detected
in human breast milk, and DDTs were dominant followed by HCH > CHLs > HCB. The
mean concentration of OCPs in primiparas was higher than multiparas, implying elimi-
nation of OCPs via lactation (Kunisue et al. 2006; Haraguchi et al. 2009).
Human breast milk samples were analyzed in Philippines during 2004 (Malarvannan
et al. 2008, 2009). The p,p′-DDE contributed to contamination, followed by p,p′-DDT and p,p′-
DDD. The HCH concentrations ranged between 3.6 and 12 ng/g, and CHL showed higher