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Persistent Organochlorine Compounds Levels in Selected Fish Species from Lake Victoria and Associated Human Health Risks

Received: 17 December 2018    Accepted: 14 January 2019    Published: 31 January 2019
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Abstract

Nile perch (L. niloticus ) and Nile tilapia (O. niloticus) are the major commercial fish species in Lake Victoria region of Tanzania. This study was conducted to assess the levels of persistent organochlorine compounds, namely PCBs and OCPs in these two fish species and the probable human health risks associated with the consumption of these two fish species from Lake Victoria. Fish samples were collected between May and August 2016 and the necessary anthropometric measurements such as length and weight were taken. The extraction was done using a modified QuEChERS method and the identification and quantification of the chemicals were done using GC/ECDs. The results of this study revealed that fish species sampled were undersize, which was an indication of overfishing and abuse of bylaws. Among the 19 OCPs which were considered, only four (β- HCH, HCB, Aldrin and Dieldrin) were detected at measurable quantities. β- HCH ranged from <0.24 to 1.19µg/kg. The mean concentrations were 0.77±0.43µg/kg and 0.56±0.16µg/kg for L. niloticus and O. niloticus respectively. HCB levels ranged from <0.18 to 0.59µg/kg in L. niloticus and <0.18µg/kg in O. niloticus. Aldrin ranged from <0.14 to 0.34µg/kg in L. niloticus whereas it was not detected in O. niloticus. Moreover, Dieldrin residues ranged from <0.17 to 1.06µg/kg in O. niloticus but were not detected in L. niloticus. Generally, there were slightly higher levels of the detected OCPs in L. niloticus than the corresponding levels in O. niloticus mainly due to their differences in trophic levels and feeding habits. The indicator PCBs were not detected in all the investigated fish samples. The levels of all the detected organochlorines were far below the MRL set for fish and fishery products suggesting that the fresh fish from Lake Victoria are safe for human consumption. Low levels of the detected residues and non- detection of many organochlorines considered indicate that contamination in Lake Victoria has not reached alarming levels. The human health risk assessment of the detected organochlorines showed cancer risk from 8.6E-06 to 3.2E-05 for children and from 7.8E-06 to 1.3E-05 for adults indicating that there is a low cancer risk for both age groups. The non- cancer risks (HI) on the other hand, were 5.7E-02 for children and 4.7E-02 for adults, which is an indication of an insignificant risk.

Published in Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (Volume 8, Issue 1)
DOI 10.11648/j.aff.20190801.11
Page(s) 1-9
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Cancer Risks, Hazard Index, Hazard Quotient, Non- Cancer Risks, OCPs, Indicator PCBs

References
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    Alex Wenaty, Arvid Fromberg, Faith Mabiki, Bernard Chove, Anders Dalsgaard, et al. (2019). Persistent Organochlorine Compounds Levels in Selected Fish Species from Lake Victoria and Associated Human Health Risks. Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, 8(1), 1-9. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.aff.20190801.11

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    Alex Wenaty; Arvid Fromberg; Faith Mabiki; Bernard Chove; Anders Dalsgaard, et al. Persistent Organochlorine Compounds Levels in Selected Fish Species from Lake Victoria and Associated Human Health Risks. Agric. For. Fish. 2019, 8(1), 1-9. doi: 10.11648/j.aff.20190801.11

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    AMA Style

    Alex Wenaty, Arvid Fromberg, Faith Mabiki, Bernard Chove, Anders Dalsgaard, et al. Persistent Organochlorine Compounds Levels in Selected Fish Species from Lake Victoria and Associated Human Health Risks. Agric For Fish. 2019;8(1):1-9. doi: 10.11648/j.aff.20190801.11

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  • @article{10.11648/j.aff.20190801.11,
      author = {Alex Wenaty and Arvid Fromberg and Faith Mabiki and Bernard Chove and Anders Dalsgaard and Robinson Mdegela},
      title = {Persistent Organochlorine Compounds Levels in Selected Fish Species from Lake Victoria and Associated Human Health Risks},
      journal = {Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries},
      volume = {8},
      number = {1},
      pages = {1-9},
      doi = {10.11648/j.aff.20190801.11},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.aff.20190801.11},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.aff.20190801.11},
      abstract = {Nile perch (L. niloticus ) and Nile tilapia (O. niloticus) are the major commercial fish species in Lake Victoria region of Tanzania. This study was conducted to assess the levels of persistent organochlorine compounds, namely PCBs and OCPs in these two fish species and the probable human health risks associated with the consumption of these two fish species from Lake Victoria. Fish samples were collected between May and August 2016 and the necessary anthropometric measurements such as length and weight were taken. The extraction was done using a modified QuEChERS method and the identification and quantification of the chemicals were done using GC/ECDs. The results of this study revealed that fish species sampled were undersize, which was an indication of overfishing and abuse of bylaws. Among the 19 OCPs which were considered, only four (β- HCH, HCB, Aldrin and Dieldrin) were detected at measurable quantities. β- HCH ranged from L. niloticus and O. niloticus respectively. HCB levels ranged from L. niloticus and O. niloticus. Aldrin ranged from L. niloticus whereas it was not detected in O. niloticus. Moreover, Dieldrin residues ranged from O. niloticus but were not detected in L. niloticus. Generally, there were slightly higher levels of the detected OCPs in L. niloticus than the corresponding levels in O. niloticus mainly due to their differences in trophic levels and feeding habits. The indicator PCBs were not detected in all the investigated fish samples. The levels of all the detected organochlorines were far below the MRL set for fish and fishery products suggesting that the fresh fish from Lake Victoria are safe for human consumption. Low levels of the detected residues and non- detection of many organochlorines considered indicate that contamination in Lake Victoria has not reached alarming levels. The human health risk assessment of the detected organochlorines showed cancer risk from 8.6E-06 to 3.2E-05 for children and from 7.8E-06 to 1.3E-05 for adults indicating that there is a low cancer risk for both age groups. The non- cancer risks (HI) on the other hand, were 5.7E-02 for children and 4.7E-02 for adults, which is an indication of an insignificant risk.},
     year = {2019}
    }
    

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  • TY  - JOUR
    T1  - Persistent Organochlorine Compounds Levels in Selected Fish Species from Lake Victoria and Associated Human Health Risks
    AU  - Alex Wenaty
    AU  - Arvid Fromberg
    AU  - Faith Mabiki
    AU  - Bernard Chove
    AU  - Anders Dalsgaard
    AU  - Robinson Mdegela
    Y1  - 2019/01/31
    PY  - 2019
    N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.aff.20190801.11
    DO  - 10.11648/j.aff.20190801.11
    T2  - Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries
    JF  - Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries
    JO  - Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries
    SP  - 1
    EP  - 9
    PB  - Science Publishing Group
    SN  - 2328-5648
    UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.aff.20190801.11
    AB  - Nile perch (L. niloticus ) and Nile tilapia (O. niloticus) are the major commercial fish species in Lake Victoria region of Tanzania. This study was conducted to assess the levels of persistent organochlorine compounds, namely PCBs and OCPs in these two fish species and the probable human health risks associated with the consumption of these two fish species from Lake Victoria. Fish samples were collected between May and August 2016 and the necessary anthropometric measurements such as length and weight were taken. The extraction was done using a modified QuEChERS method and the identification and quantification of the chemicals were done using GC/ECDs. The results of this study revealed that fish species sampled were undersize, which was an indication of overfishing and abuse of bylaws. Among the 19 OCPs which were considered, only four (β- HCH, HCB, Aldrin and Dieldrin) were detected at measurable quantities. β- HCH ranged from L. niloticus and O. niloticus respectively. HCB levels ranged from L. niloticus and O. niloticus. Aldrin ranged from L. niloticus whereas it was not detected in O. niloticus. Moreover, Dieldrin residues ranged from O. niloticus but were not detected in L. niloticus. Generally, there were slightly higher levels of the detected OCPs in L. niloticus than the corresponding levels in O. niloticus mainly due to their differences in trophic levels and feeding habits. The indicator PCBs were not detected in all the investigated fish samples. The levels of all the detected organochlorines were far below the MRL set for fish and fishery products suggesting that the fresh fish from Lake Victoria are safe for human consumption. Low levels of the detected residues and non- detection of many organochlorines considered indicate that contamination in Lake Victoria has not reached alarming levels. The human health risk assessment of the detected organochlorines showed cancer risk from 8.6E-06 to 3.2E-05 for children and from 7.8E-06 to 1.3E-05 for adults indicating that there is a low cancer risk for both age groups. The non- cancer risks (HI) on the other hand, were 5.7E-02 for children and 4.7E-02 for adults, which is an indication of an insignificant risk.
    VL  - 8
    IS  - 1
    ER  - 

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Author Information
  • Department of Food Technology, Nutrition and Consumer Sciences, College of Agriculture, Sokoine University of Agriculture, Morogoro, Tanzania

  • National Food Institute, Technical University of Denmark (DTU), Lyngby, Denmark

  • Department of Physics and Chemistry, Solomon Mahlangu College of Science and Education, Sokoine University of Agriculture, Morogoro, Tanzania

  • Department of Food Technology, Nutrition and Consumer Sciences, College of Agriculture, Sokoine University of Agriculture, Morogoro, Tanzania

  • Department of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Frederiksberg, Denmark

  • Department of Veterinary Medicine and Public Health, College of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences, Sokoine University of Agriculture, Morogoro, Tanzania

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