Organochlorine compounds, nitro musks and perfluorinated substances in breast milk – Results from Bavarian Monitoring of Breast Milk 2007/8

• Levels of chlorinated and fluorinated POPs were determined in breast milk.
• The body burden of the mother and the exposure of the infant were calculated.
• For PFC the intake is clearly below the tolerable daily intake (TDI).
• TDI values for PCDDs/PCDFs and dl-PCBs are still clearly exceeded.
• In spite of these POPs in breast-milk, breastfeeding is still highly recommended.

The aim of the Bavarian Monitoring of Breast Milk (BAMBI) project was to examine 10 organochlorine pesticides (OPs), 3 nitro musks, 6 indicator polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), 7 polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDDs), 10 polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDFs), 12 dioxin-like PCBs (dl-PCBs) and several perfluorinated alkyl compounds in breast milk samples. A total of 516 breast milk samples were collected from seven regions in Bavaria and were analyzed by means of GC/ECD, GC/HRMS, and LC/MS-MS.Concerning the OPs, only hexachlorobenzene and a metabolite of DDT, 1,1-dichloro-2,2-bis(4-chlorophenyl) ethylene (p,p′-DDE), could be quantified in all samples (median: 16 ng g−1 lipid and 63 ng g−1 lipid, respectively). Median concentrations of 150 ng g−1 lipid (range: 3–1900 ng g−1 lipid) were found for the sum of the indicator PCBs. The concentrations of the PCDDs/PCDFs and the dl-PCBs ranged from 0.8 to 15.1 (median 5.7) pg WHO-TEQ1998 g−1 lipid and from 1.5 to 18.9 pg (median 6.4) WHO-TEQ1998 g−1 lipid, respectively. The median perfluorooctane sulfonate concentration was 0.05 μg L−1 (range: <0.02–0.26 μg L), while the other PFCs were observed only in a subset of samples.On the basis of the median and 95th percentile concentration, “medium” and “high” intake levels were estimated for a 3-month-old exclusively breastfed infant. In particular, “medium” and “high” intake levels were calculated of 69 and 133 pg WHO1998 TEQ kg−1 b.w. for PCDDs/PCDFs, 8 and 21 ng kg−1 b.w. for dl-PCBs, and 6 and 25 ng kg−1 b.w. for perfluorooctane sulfonate, respectively.The calculated intake for perfluorinated substances is clearly below the tolerable daily intake (TDI), while the established TDI values are still clearly exceeded for PCDDs/PCDFs and dl-PCBs.