Concentrations and human health risk assessment of organochlorine pesticides in edible fish species from a Rift Valley lake—Lake Ziway, Ethiopia

• We measured OCPs in edible fish species from Lake Ziway, Ethiopia.
• DDTs, HCHs, chlordanes, and heptachlors were investigated, with DDTs being the predominant contaminant.
• EDIs of OCPs were significantly lower than ADIs.
• Cancer risk estimates and hazard ratios of OCPs showed a potential health concern.
• First study to report human risk assessment in edible fish species from Ethiopia.

Fish consumption is known to have several health benefits for humans. However, the accumulation of organic pollutants, like organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) could pose health hazards. Thus, OCPs in edible fish species (Oreochromis niloticus, Tilapia zillii, Carassius spp., and Clarias gariepinus) from Lake Ziway, an Ethiopian Rift Valley Lake were investigated to assess the potential human health hazards of these contaminants. Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethanes (DDTs), hexachlorocyclohexanes (HCHs), chlordanes, and heptachlors were observed with ΣOCPs concentration ranging from 1.41 to 63.8 ng g−1 ww. DDTs were the predominant contaminants (0.9 to 61.9 ng g−1 ww), followed by HCHs. The predominance of DDTs may be attributed to their current use in vector control and contamination from past usage. The estimated daily intakes (EDIs) of OCPs from all fish species were much lower than the acceptable daily intakes (ADIs), indicating that consumption of fish is at little risk to human health at present. However, the cancer risk estimates in the area of concern and the hazard ratios (HRs) of HCHs, DDTs, and heptachlors exceeded the threshold value of one, indicating daily exposure to these compounds is a potential concern. This may result in a lifetime cancer risk greater than of 1 in 106.