NOTES 



SURVEY OF POLYCHLORINATED 



BIPHENYLS IN SELECTED FINFISH 



SPECIES FROM UNITED STATES 



COASTAL WATERS 



Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB's) were manufac- 

 tured commercially under the trade name Aroclor 1 by 

 Monsanto Chemical Company, the sole U.S. pro- 

 ducer. They were first marketed in 1 929 and thereaf- 

 ter found extensive industrial applications until 

 domestic production ceased in 1977. The PCB's, as a 

 class of organic chemicals containing typically 20- 

 70% chlorine, have certain chemical and physical 

 properties that make them particularly useful 

 (Broadhurst 1972; American National Standards In- 

 stitute, Inc. 1974). They are extremely stable and 

 chemically inert compounds, resistant to decomposi- 

 tion by heat, have a high dielectric constant, and are 

 nonflammable. They have been used as insulating 

 fluids in electrical transformers and capacitors, heat 

 exchange fluids, hydraulic fluids, paints, plasticizers, 

 printing inks, retardants, and carbonless copy paper. 

 Because they are carcinogenic to animals, the use of 

 PCB's has been restricted except in closed-system 

 applications thereby minimizing but not eliminating 

 their loss into the environment. As a result of their 

 widespread industrial production and inherent resis- 

 tance to degradation, PCB's have become ubiquitous 

 and persistent environmental contaminants and 

 have been found in the fatty tissues of a wide range of 

 aquatic and land animals (Anas and Wilson 1970; 

 Bagley et al. 1970; Addison et al. 1972; Claeys et al. 

 1975; Spagnoli and Skinner 1977; Smith et al. 

 1977). 



The deleterious biological effects of PCB's have 

 been extensively documented during the last decade 

 with particular emphasis on embryo toxicity and a 

 variety of sublethal effects in the consuming animal 

 (Kinteretal. 1972; Aulerich et al. 1973; Hansen etal. 

 1974; Healtonl974 2 ;Barsotti and Allen 1975 3 ).Con- 



1 Reference to trade names does not imply endorsement by the 

 National Marine Fisheries Service, NOAA. 



2 Healton, D. C. 1974. Review of PCB's in the Great Lakes area, 

 U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Presented at the Governor's 

 Great Lakes Regional Interdisciplinary Pesticide Council, Chicago, 

 111., 30 p. Available Northeast Fisheries Center Gloucester 

 Laboratory, National Marine Fisheries Service, NOAA, Emerson 

 Avenue, Gloucester, MA 01930. 



'Barsotti, D. A., and J. R. Allen. 1975. Effects of polychlorinated 

 biphenyls on reproduction in the primate. Presented at the Meeting 

 of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology, 

 Atlantic City, N.J. 



cern over accumulation of PCB's in foods (fish, dairy 

 products, eggs, poultry, and animal feed ingredients) 

 and the possible exposure of the U.S. population to 

 their toxic effects led to the proposed Food and Drug 

 Administration's (FDA) regulatory action of 1973, 

 establishing limits for the amounts of PCB's that may 

 be present in food as a result of contamination (Gard- 

 ner 1973). 



The tolerance set for fish at that time was 5.0 parts 

 per million (ppm) on a wet weight basis. Recent tox- 

 icological data on PCB's, however, have caused the 

 FDA to consider the need to lower these limits. In 

 particular, a reduction in the tolerance level from 5.0 

 to 2.0 ppm is under active consideration by the FDA 

 (Schmidt 1974). 



Unlike freshwater fish (for which considerably 

 higher PCB levels have been reported), marine fish 

 have been considered to be largely uncontaminated, 

 at least relative to the 5.0 ppm guideline. Limited 

 "market basket" surveys by FDA have indicated 

 PCB levels in common commercial saltwater species 

 to average <0.2 ppm (Jelinek and Corneliussen 

 1975). Surveys of this type tend to be misleading, 

 however, because of the emphasis on popular com- 

 mercial seafoods that are low in fat content. 



Fish samples screened for PCB contamination un- 

 der the National Pesticide Monitoring Program indi- 

 cate that estuarine pollution levels are declining 

 (Butler and Schutzmann 1978). However, the ex- 

 perimental design and intent of this program em- 

 phasizes juvenile rather than adult, market-size fish. 

 Although the results of an EPA-NOAA estuarine 

 monitoring program conducted during 1976-77 indi- 

 cate few high PCB levels according to the 5.0 ppm 

 guideline for the fishes examined (Butler 4 ), several 

 species and/or geographic locations clearly stand out 

 as candidates for more detailed investigation. The 

 estuarine and near coastal waters of the United 

 States are receiving the heaviest load of PCB's (Har- 

 vey et al. 1974), many of which find their way into the 

 sediments through absorption by particulates, thus 

 providing a potentially enormous sink of contamina- 

 tion for eventual though gradual release into the 

 marine ecosystem. The food chain magnification of 

 PCB's (and many other organic contaminants) is 

 complex, reflecting the diversity of interspecies 

 relationships and physiological characteristics of in- 



4 Butler, P.A. 1977. EPA-NOAA Cooperative Estuarine Monitor- 

 ing Program. Final Report, October, 8 p. 



FISHERY BULLETIN: VOL. 81, NO. 2, 1983. 



389 



