Journal
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF HYGIENE AND ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH
Volume 205, Issue 4, Pages 297-308Publisher
ELSEVIER GMBH
DOI: 10.1078/1438-4639-00155
Keywords
German Environmental Survey (GerES); human biomonitoring; representative population study; arsenic; lead; cadmium; mercury; DDT; DDE; HCH; PCB; HCB; blood
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The German Environmental Survey was conducted for the third time in 1998 (GerES 111). The probability sample of about 4800 subjects was selected to be representative for the German population with regard to region (East-AVest-Germany), community size, age (18 to 69 years) and gender. Blood samples were taken from each study participant and questionnaires were used to get exposure-related information. Cadmium, lead, mercury, hexachlorobenzene (HCB), hexachlorocyclohexane (alpha-HCH, beta-HCH, gamma-HCH), 1,1-dichloro-2,2-bis(p-chlorophen yl) ethylene (p,p'-DDE) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB-138, PCB-153, PCB-180) were analysed in whole blood to document the extent, distribution, and determinants of exposure of the general population to these substances. The geometric means of Cd, Pb, and Hg in blood amounted to 0.44, 3 1, and 0.5 8 mug/l, respectively. Smokers showed a Cadmium level of 1.1 mug/l and non-smokers a level of 0.28 mug/l. The geometric mean of lead was higher in the blood of mates than of females (36 mug/l vs. 26 mu/l). The concentration of mercury in blood depends on fish consumption and the number of teeth with amalgam fillings. The mean concentrations of HCB and p, p'-DDE in blood were 0.44 mug/1 and 1.6 mug/1, respectively. In East-Germany (the former GDR) the DDE concentration in blood was more than twice as high as in West-Germany. Geometric means for PCB were 0.42, 0.68 and 0.44 mug/l for PCB-138, PCB-153, and PCB-180, respectively. A marked increase of HCB, DDE and PCB levels with age could be observed. alpha-HCH and gamma-HCH could be detected in 1.7% and 5.2% of the samples only. beta-HCH was quantified in 34% of the samples with a 95th percentile of 0.5 mug/l.
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