DETERMINATED ?DDT IN COMMERCIAL FISHES SAMPLES FROM DISTINCT BRAZILIAN AMAZON SITES.

Abstract

Commercial fish samples from quatro areas in Brazilian Amazon: Boa Vista, Roraima State (n=1); Tapajós River Basin (n=33); Madeira River Basin (n=23), and Balbina Lake (n=5), Amazonas State, were collected or bought in markets between the years 1990 to 1993 and 1996. In 2002, there was a new sampling along Madeira River (n=22) again, and Itacoatiara, in the Amazon River (n=20). The analysis of the ?DDT levels were done by high resolution gas chromatography with electron capture detector. The concentrations ranged between 0.6ng.g-1 to 150.3ng.g-1 (wet-weight) in Itaituba. In the more recent samples from Madeira River and Itacoatiara city, the ?DDT levels (wet weight) ranged from no detectable levels to 8.9ng.g-1, showing a reduction in the fish concentrations along the last decade. Based on estimated breast-milk levels, results indicated that mothers consuming 550g of fish.day-1 in Itaituba and Boa Vista could have at this time breast milk ?DDT concentrations sufficiently high to expose infants to levels above a proposed Tolerable Daily Intake dose of 5 x 10-3mg/kg/day for breastfeeding infants suggested by Marien & Laflamme (1995).