Concentrations of halogenated natural products and persistent organic pollutants in sardines (Sardinops sagax) from different sites of South Africa

摘要

The pollution of food and the environment with polyhalo-genated compounds is a serious global ecological problem. In addition to these man-made polyhalogenated pollutants, several halogenated natural products (HNPs), which are structurally similar, have been frequently detected in marine organisms [1]. They share several properties with the toxic persistent organic pollutants (POPs) such as li-pophilicity, persistence and bioaccumulation [2]. This in-dicated that HNPs may be potentially harmful to health. Because there is only limited data available on the global distribution of HNPs [3], we investigated the concentra-tion of natural and man-made halogenated compounds in sardines (Sardinops sagax) from South Africa, specifically with one site in the Indian Ocean and one in the South Atlantic Ocean.