Chemical analysis of human blood for assessment of environmental exposure to semivolatile organochlorine chemical contaminants.

A chemical method for the quantitative analysis of organochlorine pesticide residues present in human blood was scaled-up to provide increased sensitivity and extended to include organochlorine industrial chemicals. Whole blood samples were extracted with hexane, concentrated, and analyzed without further cleanup by gas chromatography with electron capture detection. The methodology used was validated by conducting recovery studies at 1 and 10 ng/g (ppb) levels. Screening and confirmational analyses were performed by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry on samples collected from potentially exposed residents of the Love Canal area of Niagara Falls, New York and from volunteers in the Research Triangle Park area of North Carolina for 25 specific semivolatile organochlorine contaminants including chlorobenzene and chlorotoluene congeners, hexachloro-1,3-butadiene, pesticides, and polychlorinated biphenyls as Aroclor 1260. Dichlorobenzene, hexachlorobenzene, and beta-hexachlorocyclohexane residues fell in the range of 0.1 to 26 ppb in a high percentage of both the field and volunteer blood samples analyzed. Levels of other organochlorine compounds were either non-detectable or present in sub-ppb ranges.