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Sediment Contamination and Marine Ecosystems: Potential Risks to Human Health
Pages 155-164

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From page 155...
... Yet, we know far more about the impacts of sediment contamination on aquatic species than on the human consumer. Simply stated, our understanding of events and processes that lead to potential human health effects from the consumption of contaminated seafood are virtually unknown, as is the extent of the impact on human populations (Swain, 1988; Friberg, 1988~.
From page 156...
... Also, only a paucity of information exists about the nature and extent of the human health effects. Having broadly delineated some of the complex problems that can be attributed to one of the "original sins" of chemical contamination-pollution of the sediments -- several specific questions will now be addressed: TABLE 1 Concentration (ppm, Wet Weight)
From page 157...
... 2. What are the human health implications?
From page 158...
... Unfortunately, little or no information exists on the transfer to human populations of the wide variety of xenobiotics that exist together with the PCBs in edible tissues of aquatic life exposed to pollutants. It is not known, for r TABLE 3 DDTa concentrations (pg/gm, ppm Wet Weight)
From page 159...
... Clearly of significance is the finding that pan- fried fish tend to have a significantly lower concentration of ODT derivatives than the uncooked fish (Puffer et al., 1982; Table 3~; however, the influence of cooking on the concentrations of other contaminants is virtually unknown THE HUMAN HEALTH IMPLICATIONS Considerations of human health effects from the consumption of contaminated seafood have focused, for the most part, on the PCBs; however, some concern has been expressed about inorganic compounds (e.g. , arsenic)
From page 161...
... Studies in which laboratory animals are fed a diet of contaminated fish tissue or a diet containing extractable, environmentally derived chemicals may well prove to be a useful approach. Finally, one can only hope that future work will consider a variety of biological end points as indicators of human health effects, rather than focus on the few (e g., cancer and neurological impairment)
From page 162...
... Based on work conducted while at the Southern California Coastal Water Research Project (S.C.W.R.P.) , Long Beach, CA.
From page 163...
... 1982 . Potential health hazards from consumption of fish caught in polluted coastal waters of Los Angeles County .
From page 164...
... 1988. Human health consequences of consumption of fish contaminated with organochlorine compounds.


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