Immunologic dysfunction among PBB-exposed Michigan dairy farmers.

In 1973 inadvertent contamination occurred in a special farm feed supplement for lactating cows. Polybrominated biphenyls (PBBs) were used in place of magnesium oxide resulting in serious harm to farm animals, including cattle, chickens, geese, ducks. Farm families, accustomed to eating their own products, were most heavily exposed. To further study the impact of PBBs, 45 adult Michigan farm residents who were originally examined in a clinical field survey were further studied with respect to their immunologic status. For comparison, 46 dairy farm residents in Wisconsin, who had not eaten PBB-contaminated food, were examined, as were 79 healthy subjects in New York City. Abnormalities in the Michigan group included significant decrease in absolute numbers and percentages of T and B-lymphocytes and increased number of lymphocytes with no detectable surface markers ("null cells"). Significant reduction of in vitro immune function was noted in 35--40% of the Michigan farm residents who had eaten food containing PBB. Despite the absence of any apparent numerical reduction, both T and B lymphocyte subpopulations of peripheral blood lymphocytes showed evidence of functional defect. Ten of the 45 Michigan farmers studied showed impaired PHA-induced blastogeneic response, due to the decreased number and percent of T-cells in the PBLs. The decreased immune function detected among the PBB-exposed farm residents tended to affect families as a unit and was independent of exposed individuals' age or sex, speaking against the possibility of genetic predisposition.