BIOACCUMULATION OF DIOXINS, COPLANAR PCBS, PCDES, HXCNS, R-PCNS, R-PCPHS AND R-PCBBS IN FISH FROM A PULP-MILL RECIPIENT WATERCOURSE

Pike, perch and lake bream from the river Kymijoki were analyzed by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) for toxic polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDDs) and dibenzofurans (PCDFs), hexachlorinated naphthalenes (HxCNs), non-ortho substituted polychlorinated biphenyls (coplanar PCBs) and alkylchloroaromatics of pulp mill origin. In most fish, the only congener of PCDD/PCDFs found was 2,3,7,8-TeCDF (< 2-12 pg/g in fresh weight [fw]). Traces of HxCNs (4-12 pg/g fw) were detected in all fish. Of coplanar PCBs, only PCB 77 (8-73 pg/g fw) and PCB 126 (2-5 pg/g fw) were detected. Alkylchlorophenanthrenes (C4-PCPHs; P = 1-4), alkylchloronaphthalenes (C2- and C3-PCNs; P = 1-2) and atkylchlorobibenzyls (C5-PCBBs; P = 1-4), were non-detectable (< 5 pg/g fw) in most fish. Polychlorinated diphenyl ethers (PCDEs), impurities of chlorophenol formulations, instead, were detected in these fish at several tens of ng/g in lipid.