Blood PCB concentrations and their characteristics examined in Fukuoka 2006 annual inspection for Yusho

We analyzed sixty-eight PCB isomers and determined their concentrations and characteristics in fifty-eight individual blood samples collected during the annual Yusho inspection in 2006. The method used in this study consists of a rapid GPC clean-up and sensitive PCB isomer-specific identification with HRGC/HRMS. As a result, the highest total PCB concentration in inspected subjects was 6.6 ppb on a blood weight basis, which was 8.1 times higher than that of a control blood sample. When blood PCB patterns were compared among twenty-seven persons in undergoing examinations both 2004 and 2006, the longitudinal classifications in the respective individuals hardly changed between these years. Mean concentrations of each PCB isomer in the blood of pattern A subjects (n=4) were compared with those in the blood collected from Fukuoka prefecture residents (n=127). Consequently, the respective blood concentrations of PCB #157, #156, #189, #137, #195, #170, #99 were obviously higher than those of Fukuoka residents, while those of PCB #118, # 05 was evidently lower than those of Fukuoka residents.