Halogenated organic pollutants (HOPs) in marine fish collected from central-northern coastal waters in Vietnam

In this work, three groups of halogenated organic pollutants (HOPs) including polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and organochlorine compounds (OCPs) were analysed simultaneously in twenty-six fish species from coastal waters along the North and Central of Vietnam. Samples were randomly collected, dry-free freeze for pre-treatment, extracted by accelerated solvent extraction combined with cleaning up on multi-layers silica gel column before analysing on the GC-MS/MS system. The concentration of analytes was quantified by internal standard method and controlled with corresponding label standards. The decreasing order of HOP concentrations was ∑20OCPs (mean/median: 158/139 ng/g-wet weight (ww), range: 31.1-406 ng/g-ww) > ∑28PCBs (mean/median: 46.6/36.5 ng/g-ww, range: 5.92-225 ng/g-ww) > ∑8PBDEs (mean/median: 28.7/4.76 ng/g-ww, range: 0.26-212 ng/g-ww). The mean concentration of BDE-209 was the highest distribution (76.5%) in PBDE group, followed by BDE-154 (6.6%), and BDE-153 (5.7%). For PCBs group, hexa-CBs were the most contribution among PCBs and up to 26.1%, followed by Penta-CBs (24.4%), and Tetra-CBs (18.2%) in concentration. The mean concentration of ∑DDTs, accounting to 61.6% of total OCPs, contributed the highest level in this OCP group. The ratio of (DDE+DDD)/DDT in all samples was higher than 1, showing that DDTs were mainly derived from historical. The equivalent toxicity (TEQ) values of 12 dl-PCBs in all samples ranged between 1.1-5.9 ng TEQ/g-ww. The estimated daily intake (EDI) is lower than the Acceptable Daily Intake (ADI) set by FAO/WHO, 1975 (20,000 ng/kg-bw/d for DDTs and 5,000 ng/kg-bw/d for γ-BHC). Intakes of HOPs through the consumption of the marine fish from the studied areas might not subject about health risks to residents living of the coastal areas. However, it is important to know current pollution status and further control marine food pollution in Vietnam as well as propose the appropriate solutions to improve this issue.