Further review of certain persistent organochlorine pesticides used in Great Britain.
- Great Britain. Advisory Committee on Pesticides and Other Toxic Chemicals
- Date:
- 1969
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Further review of certain persistent organochlorine pesticides used in Great Britain. Source: Wellcome Collection.
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![were, in general, below 0-03 p.p.m. Where thermal vaporisers were in use higher levels of BHC (0-39 p.p.m.) and DDT (0-21 p.p.m.) were found. The occurrence of residues of dieldrin in one or two samples was traced to the use in the houses of a disinfectant containing dieldrin, and high DDT residues in other samples were due to DDT dust being applied to the birds or their nests. Poultry meat 67. The breast and thigh muscle of birds reared under free-range and intensive systems were analysed. The mean residue levels were below 0:06 p.p.m. total BHC, 0:02 p.p.m. total DDT, and 0-01 p.p.m. dieldrin. Carrots 68. Although considerable residues of aldrin and dieldrin (up to 1-4 p.p.m.; mean 0-16 p.p.m.) were found in the skin of carrots grown in soils that had _ been treated with these chemicals, the mean residues in the edible flesh were consistently below 0-01 p.p.m. Potatoes 69. Potatoes from fields that had been treated with aldrinated fertiliser or aldrin or dieldrin dusts or sprays in the year of cropping often contained appreciable residues in the skin (up to 0-7 p.p.m.; mean 0-09 p.p.m.) but the mean level in the flesh was only 0-01 p.p.m. The occurrence and levels of the skin residues were similar, irrespective of the mode of pesticide application or whether the field had been treated for the first time in the year of cropping or in previous years. Samples from fields treated in years previous to the year of cropping occasionally contained low residues in the skin (mean 0-02 p.p.m.) but residues in the flesh were very low or not detectable. Exploratory studies 70. The Panel on Residues of Pesticides in Foodstuffs initiated a number of small-scale studies on selected foodstuffs to determine whether there were residue problems worthy of extended examination. The foods investigated included tinned baby foods, infant diet supplements (cod-liver oil, concentrated orange juice, and dried milk), flour, breakfast cereals, jams and marmalade, strawberries, bananas from plantations that had been treated with aldrin, blackcurrants from plantations that had been treated with endosulfan and blackcurrant products (juices, jams, tinned fruit, and pie fillings), wines, spirits, and beers. With the exception of cod-liver oil and fresh blackcurrants from treated plantations, the residue levels found in these studies were of the order of parts per thousand million or less. Samples of cheese, cooking fats and oils, and fish, were also examined in 1968. The content of organochlorine pesticide residues in these products was very variable, ranging up to 0:28 p.p.m. of BHC (cheese), 0-16 p.p.m. of dieldrin (fish), and 0-41 p.p.m. of DDT compounds [Appendix VI, Table (i)]. 71. In the 1967 survey initiated by the County Councils Association, some 2,500 samples of foods purchased at retail outlets throughout Great Britain were examined. 84° contained either no residues or residues below a level of 0-001 p.p.m. and less than 5% of these samples contained residues of organo- chlorine pesticides in excess of 0-1 p.p.m. The residues above 0-1 p.p.m. were predominantly DDT and occurred in the fats and fruits.](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b32173076_0021.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
