HUMAN HEALTH EFFECTS ASSOCIATED WITH PCB EXPOSURE

Introduction | Health Effects of PCBs | Exposure to PCBs in Great Lakes | Health Effects in Great Lakes Areas of Concern

Exposure to PCBs in Great Lakes

Health Canada estimated the exposure of Great Lakes residents to PCBs.¹¹ These exposures were estimated in nanograms per kilogram body weight per day (ng/kg bw/day). Health Canada has set a provisional tolerable daily intake for PCBs of 1,000 ng/kg bw/day.

The average daily lifetime intake was calculated as 27.58 ng/kg bw/day when those who were not breast-fed as infants were excluded. When those who were breast-fed as infants were included, the average intake (for breast-fed and non-breast-fed infants combined) was 33.00 ng/kg bw/day. These calculations were based on a 70-year lifespan.

During the first six-months of life, an infant that was exclusively breast-fed took in an average of 808.18 ng/kg bw/day of PCBs. An infant that was not breast-fed took in 47.96 ng/kg bw/day.

People who ate an average of 21.3 grams of fish caught in the Great Lakes were estimated by Health Canada to have an average daily intake of 115.4 ng/kg bw/day of PCBs. This was average intake over a 70-year lifetime and included both those who had been breast-fed and not breast-fed as infants.¹²

¹¹ D. Haines, V. Laube, S. Jordan, “Polychlorinated Biphenyls,” in Persistent Environmental Contaminants and the Great Lakes Basin Population: An Exposure Assessment, 1998, pp. 299-325.

¹² Ibid., pp. 303-304.