The public health implications of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in the environment

doi:10.1016/j.ecoenv.2004.06.003

Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety

Volume 59, Issue 3, November 2004, Pages 275-291

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoenv.2004.06.003 Get rights and content

Abstract

Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) were widely used in various industrial applications. Research confirmed that some PCB congeners degrade slowly in the environment and can build up in the food chain. Poisoning episodes in Asia were initially attributed to PCB-contaminated oil, although subsequent analysis suggested that thermal degradation products of PCBs were responsible for the observed toxicity. Commercial production of PCBs in the United States was banned in 1979. Several agencies have categorized PCBs as animal carcinogens; however, studies of workers exposed to high doses of PCBs have not demonstrated an increased cancer risk. Health effects attributable to PCBs include skin and eye irritation. There is no reliable evidence that PCBs in the environment result in either “endocrine disruption” or intellectual deterioration in children exposed in utero. Because PCB exposures from environmental sources do not pose a significant health risk, little benefit to public health can result from continued remediation of PCB sources.

Section snippets

Executive summary

Polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, are a family comprising of 209 chemically related compounds that were widely used more than 25 years ago in a variety of industrial applications due to their insulating and fire-retardant properties. Concern about the presence of PCBs in the environment began in the late 1960s, when PCBs were found in wildlife in Sweden. Subsequent research confirmed that some PCB congeners degrade very slowly in the environment and can build up in the food chain. In 1968, an

Indications of human exposure to PCBs

As early as the 1930s, occupational exposure to PCBs was reported to cause some acute health effects, such as chloracne, in humans. Workplace exposure limits were established in the early 1940s, and for decades workers continued to manufacture and use PCBs safely. It was not until the late 1960s and afterwards that concern over PCBs in the environment began to rise, a concern that coincided with the beginnings of the environmental movement and with the subsequent creation of the Environmental

Toxicity in laboratory animal studies

The tumorigenicity of PCBs in rodents was first reported in mice by Nagasaki et al. (1972) and Ito et al. (1973). These studies were followed by reports of the presence of tumors in rats (Kimbrough et al., 1975; National Cancer Institute, 1978; Norback and Weltman, 1985; Schaeffer et al., 1984). In many instances, study limitations such as single-sex representation, single exposure concentration, and restriction of evaluation to only highly chlorinated mixtures (mainly 60% chlorination) limited

The evidence for exposure-related effects in humans

Human data, when available, are always preferable to laboratory animal data when assessing potential health risks from environmental or occupational exposures, and for PCBs, there is a robust body of human epidemiological literature, primarily from occupational studies. Other studies have examined the relationship between PCB exposure and potential human health effects using indirect or surrogate measures of exposure such as fish consumption. For example, some recent studies have reported

Do PCBs act as endocrine “disruptors”?

Endocrine (hormone) disruption as a measurable indicator of toxicity is a relatively new issue that continues to receive significant public and regulatory attention. Some scientists have hypothesized that hormonally related health problems occur because of disruptive effects of trace environmental chemicals on the endocrine system. This speculation was widely publicized in 1996 with the release of Our Stolen Future (Colburn et al., 1996). The authors suggest that some chemicals, acting as

PCBs in the environment and human exposure trends

A significant part of the risk equation that is often forgotten when regulators, public health officials, and various public interest groups raise concern about continuing health risks from environmental PCB exposure is the element of human exposure. It must be remembered that health risk is a combination of hazard and exposure. We have examined the hazard associated with PCBs and the totality of the epidemiological database for PCBs reveals that PCBs are not associated with the myriad of

The consequences—some unintended—of PCB-related concerns

Because of the widespread and often intense notoriety that PCBs have received over the past 25 years, ramifications have occurred in many arenas—politics, regulations, public health, and the courts. Concern over PCBs in the environment has costs, and in many of these areas, the costs have been very significant indeed and are ultimately borne by all citizens of the United States, either through passed-along fees and costs or missed opportunity costs for other public health intervention measures.

Summary

Although PCBs can be found at trace levels in the environment, their levels in fish, other foods, and human blood continue to decline, a trend that has been going on for many years. No conclusive evidence exists to support the position that background levels in the general population, or even the much higher levels that occurred among some occupational groups, have resulted in carcinogenic or other chronic adverse health effects. In humans, the only effects that are correlated with chronic or

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Insight into the mechanism of melatonin in attenuating PCB126-induced liver injury: Resistance to ROS-dependent NETs formation to alleviate inflammation and lipid metabolism dysfunction
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¹: A list of reviewers is provided at the end of this position paper.

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ReviewThe public health implications of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in the environment

Abstract

Section snippets

Executive summary

Indications of human exposure to PCBs

Toxicity in laboratory animal studies

The evidence for exposure-related effects in humans

Do PCBs act as endocrine “disruptors”?

PCBs in the environment and human exposure trends

The consequences—some unintended—of PCB-related concerns

Summary

Res. Microbiol.

Chemosphere

Environ. Res.

J. Pediatr.

Reg. Toxicol. Pharmacol.

J. Pediatr.

J. Pediatr.

Neurotoxicol. Teratol.

Ecotoxicol. Environ. Saf.

Toxicol. Sci.

Toxicol. Appl. Pharmacol.

Neurotoxicol. Teratol.

Reg. Toxicol. Pharmacol.

Environ. Res. A

Reg. Toxicol. Pharmacol.

Soybean phytoestrogen intake and cancer risk

J. Nutr.

Global transport of organic pollutantsambient concentrations in remote marine atmosphere

Science

Global distribution of organic compounds

Environ. Carcinogen Rev.

Cancer mortality of capacitor manufacturing workers

Am. J. Ind. Med.

Genetic construction of PCB degraders

Biodegradation

Mortality of workers exposed to polychlorinated biphenyls—an update

Arch. Environ. Health

Polychlorinated biphenyl dechlorination in aquatic sediments

Science

Consumption of contaminated sport fish from Lake Ontario and time-to-pregnancy

Am. J. Epidemiol.

Our Stolen Future

Temperature-dependent sex determination in reptilesproximate mechanisms, ultimate outcomes, and practical applications

Dev. Genet.

Epidemiology of ocular melanoma: incidence and geographic relationship in Ohio (1967–1977)

Ohio State Med. J.

The reproductive toxicology of Great Lakes contaminants

Environ. Health Perspect.

Molecular genetics and evolutionary relationship of PCB-degrading bacteria

Biodegradation

Short-term mortality and cancer incidence in capacitor manufacturing workers exposed to polychlorinated biphenyls

Am. J. Ind. Med.

A cohort study on mortality and exposure to polychlorinated biphenyls

Arch. Environ. Health

Evaluation of humans exposed to halogenated biphenyls

Am. Chem. Soc. Div. Environ. Chem. Reprints

Histopathologic studies on liver tumorigenesis induced in mice by technical polychlorinated biphenyls and its promoting effect on liver tumors induced by benzene hexachloride

J. Natl. Cancer Inst.

Intellectual impairment in children exposed to polychlorinated biphenyls in utero

N. Engl. J. Med.

Prenatal test of an environmental toxina test of the multiple effects model

Dev. Psychol.

Review
The public health implications of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in the environment