Ambient air concentrations and risk assessment of selected organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) across five Middle Eastern countries

Abstract

This paper presents data obtained from concurrently deployed polyurethane foam disk passive samplers in Kuwait, Turkey, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, and Oman between January and October 2018. The study’s main goal was to initiate a passive air sampling network across the Middle East to generate comparable data, which will help report obligations of the various countries and be used in protocol discussions. The ∑₂₄OCP concentrations were highest in the samples collected from Kartaba in Lebanon (7780 pg·m^-3), and the lowest concentration was recorded at the BUTAL site in the Bursa province of Turkey (7.27 pg·m^-3). The mean ambient ∑₂₄OCP concentrations on a country-specific basis over consecutive sampling campaigns were: Lebanon (1680 pg·m^-3) > Bursa (Turkey) (78.7 pg·m^-3) > Oman (55 pg·m^-3) > Kuwait (42 pg·m^-3) > Jeddah, Saudi Arabia (19.1 pg·m^-3). The results show no cancer risk due to inhalation of organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) in ambient air. This study provides the first reliable measurements of the spatial variability in the atmospheric concentrations of OCPs across several Middle Eastern countries, providing a baseline for assessing time trends in air, one of the core matrices for the effectiveness evaluation of the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants.

Keywords

Persistent organic pollutants (POPs) / organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) / passive air sampling / spatial and temporal trends / inhalation cancer risk / Middle East

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