Current Levels of Organochlorine Pesticides in Marine Ecosystems of the Russian Far Eastern Seas
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ent Levels of Organochlorine Pesticides in Marine Ecosystems of the Russian Far Eastern Seas V. Yu. Tsygankova, b, * and O. N. Lukyanovab, c, † aSchool
of Biomedicine, Far Eastern Federal University, Vladivostok, 690091 Russia of Natural Sciences, Far Eastern Federal University, Vladivostok, 690091 Russia c Pacific Branch, Russian Federal Research Institute of Fisheries and Oceanography, Vladivostok, 690091 Russia *e-mail: [email protected] bSchool
Received February 19, 2019; revised March 25, 2019; accepted March 27, 2019
Abstract—This review provides information on major organochlorine pesticides (OCPs), which were applied in agriculture worldwide in the 1940s–1960s and are still in use in some developing countries (such as India and China). Patterns of their distribution in the environment, toxicity, metabolism, and degradation are described. Their distribution over the components of ecosystems in different regions of the World Ocean, including the Far Eastern seas of Russia (the Sea of Japan, the Sea of Okhotsk, and the Bering Sea), is characterized over the period of 2000–2016. In the Sea of Okhotsk and the Bering Sea, the OCP content of marine organisms is lower than that in other regions of the World Ocean, in particular, in the Sea of Japan. Results show that a pesticide “background” has formed on the planet. The OCP concentrations in the Sea of Okhotsk and the Bering Sea can be considered a background level, while the Sea of Japan is exposed to contamination from countries using these substances in agriculture. Keywords: organochlorine pesticides, HCH, DDT, marine ecosystems, Sea of Okhotsk, Bering Sea, Sea of Japan DOI: 10.1134/S199542551906009X
INTRODUCTION Among persistent organic pollutants (POPs), organochlorines (OCs), primarily organochlorine pesticides (OCPs)—metabolites of dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) and isomers of hexachlorocyclohexane (HCH) previously widely used in industry and agriculture across the world due to their high toxicity and resistance—are considered the most hazardous agents in terms of ubiquitous distribution and impacts on living organisms. The composition of a technological HCH mixture included various HCH isomers with different cycle conformations: α-HCH made up 55–70%; β-HCH, 5–14%; and γ-HCH, 9–13%. Preparations with a different composition containing 25 and 90–99% γ-HCH (lindane) as the active agent were also produced (Zulidov et al., 2002). A technological preparation of DDT was based on dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane, represented by two main isomers, p,p'-DDT and o,p'-DDT, which differ in the position of chlorine atoms in the benzene rings, and by other isomers with minor concentrations (Tsydenova, 2005). The leading criteria in assessing the behavior of OCPs are their persistence (stability) in the environ† Deceased.
ment, cumulative properties, and consequences in the case of bioaccumulation. OCPs are accumulated up food chains and are capable of biomagnification, which can result in serious negative impacts on organisms occupying the top of the trophic pyram
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