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Persistent organic pollutant concentrations in first birth mothers across Mexico

Journal of Exposure Science & Environmental Epidemiology volume 22, pages 60–69 (2012)Cite this article

Abstract

This project was initiated by the North America Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC). Its main purpose was to obtain an initial profile on pregnant woman's exposure to persistent organic pollutants (POPs) in North America (Canada, the United States and Mexico). Persistent organic pollutants are transferred to the fetus via the placenta during the pregnancy or to the infant via maternal milk; therefore, the pregnant woman's body burden is important because of the higher exposures and potential health effects in the fetus and infant. This paper presents the results from 240 pregnant women in 10 Mexican cities, and includes the concentrations of various POPs such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), organochlorine pesticides and polychlorinated dibenzo dioxins and furans (PCDDs and PCDFs) in maternal plasma. We found concentrations of p,p′-DDE in maternal samples from Coatzacoalcos to be ∼60% higher than those found in Ciudad Obregon, which had the second highest concentration. Pregnant women from Merida had higher mean concentrations of PCBs than all women in other regions. Results for PCDDs and PCDFs plus dioxin-like PCBs data were only available on the basis of composite samples, and their concentrations are similar in most cities except for Coatzacoalcos, which had more than double the concentration found in other cities. Although this study provides useful information on the variability of POPs in specific populations and possible regional/local differences, these results cannot be generalized to the entire Mexican population because of differences in age, gender, sources of exposure and nonrandom nature of the sample.

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Acknowledgements

This study was supported by the Commission for Environmental Cooperation (Montreal, Canada) and by the World Bank (Geneva, Switzerland).We thank to the executive chiefs and staff from: Hospital de Especialidades del niño y la mujer Querétaro, Hospital General de Cuautitlán, Centro de Salud de la Cabecera Municipal de Tultitlán Centro, Hospital Materno Infantil Mérida, Hospital General Coatzacoalcos, Hospital Universitario Monterrey, Hospital Integral Hermosillo, Hospital Zona “Yanga”, “Hospital General Ciudad Obregón, Hospital Civil Guadalajara and the mothers who participated in this study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Environmental Health Department, Center for Population Heath Research, National Institute of Public Health, Cuernavaca, Morelos, México

    Sandra Rodríguez-Dozal & Horacio Riojas Rodríguez

  2. Undersecretary for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention, Ministry of Health, Distrito Federal, México

    Mauricio Hernández-Ávila

  3. Chemicals Surveillance Bureau, Healthy Environments and Consumer Safety Branch, Health Canada, Ottawa, Ontorio, Canada

    Jay Van Oostdam

  4. Commission for Environmental Cooperation, Montreal, Quebec, Canada

    Jean Philippe Weber & Luke Trip

  5. National Center of Environmental Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, USA

    Larry L Needham

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  1. Sandra Rodríguez-Dozal
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Correspondence to Horacio Riojas Rodríguez.

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Rodríguez-Dozal, S., Riojas Rodríguez, H., Hernández-Ávila, M. et al. Persistent organic pollutant concentrations in first birth mothers across Mexico. J Expo Sci Environ Epidemiol 22, 60–69 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/jes.2011.31

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