Dioxin 2011

Persistent organic pollutants (POPs) are a group of chemicals that include halogenated pesticides, brominated diphenyl ethers (BDEs), and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). Due to the lipophilic nature of these components, they accumulate in the fatty tissue of animals and bioaccumulate up the food chain. According to the World Health Organization, human breast milk is an ideal matrix to monitor the levels of POPs not only in the mother and infant, but also as a key indicator of the levels of these chemicals in the local environment. Current methodology for the analysis of halogenated pesticides, PCBs, and BDEs can be expensive, solvent intense, and time consuming. The QuEChERS extraction approach coupled to a silica cartridge SPE cleanup may be an attractive sample preparation alternative for biomonitoring efforts for halogenated POPs in milk. Comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography (GCxGC) with an electron capture detector (ECD) may also offer a more cost-effective alternative. Method development was done using whole cow milk and later compared to a NIST standard reference material of human breast milk.