AbstractsBiology & Animal Science

Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are a group of industrial chemicals of the organochlorine family and like organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) are considered a serious threat to human health(7). PCBs were developed in the 1920s (2). Because of their toxicity their use was banned in Denmark in 1976. PCBs were used as a plasticiser in sealants, as a lubricant, as fire retardants and also in building materials (2). PCBs do not readily break down, they come under what is called Persistent Organic Pollutants (POP) and remain in the environment for a long time and so pollutes it; and though some PCBs have been removed and destroyed the remainder still pose a serious problem for the society in Denmark. Based on an international study (7) where honey from developed and developing countries was tested for levels of concentration of different OCPs we decided to test if honey obtained from different geographical regions of Denmark can be used as a bio-monitor for PCBs in the environment (hypothesis: 1). Having also studied literature about the PCB problem in Denmark we hypothesized (hypothesis 2) that city honey had higher levels of PCBs than farmland honey, wherefore we chose to test honey samples from both city and farmland. The level of concentration of PCBs were found using Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS). Our experimental results showed that our hypothesis 1 was valid: Honey can be used as a bio-monitor for PCBs in Denmark; however our hypothesis 2 was not valid as we found that farmland honey contained higher levels PCBs than city honey, in direct contradiction of our hypothesis 2. The reason for this contradiction could be due to heavy use of pesticides in the particular area our farmland honey came from and this (use of pesticides) could have disturbed our measurements, it could also be due to the sampling being too small; something that could be looked into in further studies.