| Author |
Rivière, Gilles Leblanc, Jean-Charles Marchand, Philippe Merlo, Mathilde de Bels, Frédéric Favrot, Marie-Christine Desvignes, Virginie Volatier, Jean-Luc Zeghnoun, Abdelkrim Le Bizec, Bruno |
| Description |
Author Affiliation: Desvignes V ( Risk Assessment Department, French Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health & Safety (ANSES), 27-31, avenue du Général Leclerc, Maisons-Alfort, F-94701, France. Electronic address: virginie.desvignes@anses.fr.); Volatier JL ( Risk Assessment Department, French Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health & Safety (ANSES), 27-31, avenue du Général Leclerc, Maisons-Alfort, F-94701, France.); de Bels F ( Division for Public Health and Care, French National Cancer Institute (INCa), 52, avenue André Morizet, Boulogne Billancourt Cedex, F-92513, France.); Zeghnoun A ( Department of Environmental Health, French Institute for Public Health Surveillance (InVS), 12, rue du Val d'Osne, Saint-Maurice, F-94415, France.); Favrot MC ( Ministry of Health, 14, avenue Duquesne, Paris, F-75350, France.); Marchand P ( LUNAM Université, Oniris, Laboratoire d'Etude des Résidus et Contaminants dans les Aliments (LABERCA), USC INRA 1329, Nantes, F-44307, France.); Le Bizec B ( LUNAM Université, Oniris, Laboratoire d'Etude des Résidus et Contaminants dans les Aliments (LABERCA), USC INRA 1329, Nantes, F-44307, France.); Rivière G ( Risk Assessment Department, French Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health & Safety (ANSES), 27-31, avenue du Général Leclerc, Maisons-Alfort, F-94701, France.); Leblanc JC ( Risk Assessment Department, French Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health & Safety (ANSES), 27-31, avenue du Général Leclerc, Maisons-Alfort, F-94701, France.); Merlo M ( Risk Assessment Department, French Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health & Safety (ANSES), 27-31, avenue du Général Leclerc, Maisons-Alfort, F-94701, France.) |
| Abstract |
INTRODUCTION: Polychlorobiphenyls (PCBs) are persistent pollutants that are widespread in the environment and in foodstuffs, particularly in freshwater fish, which frequently exceed the maximum levels set by European regulations. OBJECTIVES: First, we describe the consumption of freshwater fish and serum PCB levels in French anglers, a population expected to have the highest level of dietary PCB exposure. Second, we investigated whether there is a statistical relationship between serum PCB levels and the angler consumption of freshwater fish with high PCB bioaccumulation potential (PCB-BP(+) freshwater fish) in order to make recommendations with regard to safe consumption of freshwater fish. METHODS: We conducted a survey of anglers from six sites with contrasting PCB contamination levels. The survey included a food consumption frequency questionnaire and blood samples were taken to assess serum PCB levels. We used a regression model to determine the main factors contributing to serum PCB levels. RESULTS: Consumption of PCB-BP(+) freshwater fish was relatively infrequent. Serum PCB levels of the study population and of women of childbearing age were in the same range as those observed in the French population and in neighbouring European countries, but higher than in the North American population. The two factors with the highest positive association with serum PCB levels were age (R(2)=61%) and the consumption of PCB-BP(+) freshwater fish (R(2)=2%). Using the regression model, we calculated, for several scenarios depending on the age and gender of the population, the maximum annual frequencies for PCB-BP(+) freshwater fish consumption that do not exceed the critical body burden threshold. CONCLUSION: Following the results of this study, the French agency for food, environmental and occupational health and safety (ANSES) issued an opinion and recommended some specific maximum freshwater fish consumption frequencies to protect the French general population. |
