Monitoring of PCBs in Human Breast Milk and Environmental samples

Although Ghana like many other countries has banned the use of Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs) they are still found in the environment due to the long half-life of these chemicals. In Ghana, old transformers and other materials which contain PCBs but have not yet been replaced thus resulting in their presence in the environment. Also, another major contributor of PCBs in the Ghanaian environment today is indiscriminate burning of plastics and electronic waste. The waste stream of outdated electrical and electronic products is fast growing with an estimated 20-50 million tons per year being generated worldwide (UNEP 2005).The act of recycling of these e-waste in Ghana poses significant problems to the environment and human health, mainly because of the presence of a large number of hazardous chemicals of which PCB is included. The monitoring of PCB in the soil and breast milk is therefore of utmost importance.

Polychlorerede biphenyler (PCB'er) er giftige. I projektet undersøges det, om det er målbare mængder i brystmælk og lossepladsforurenet jord fra Ghana. Der er stort fokus på analysearbejdet i laboratoriet, hvor der skal udvikles robuste metoder til kvantificering af mængderne. Der sammenlignes med et tidligere arbejde vedrørende pesticider i brystmælk udført af samme principal investigator.