Occurrence of halogenated contaminants in inland and coastal fish from Ghana: Levels, dietary exposure assessment and human health implications Kwadwo Ansong Asante a,b,c , Shin Takahashi a , Takaaki Itai a , Tomohiko Isobe a,c , Gnanasekaran Devanathan a , Mamoru Muto a , Seth Koranteng Agyakwah b , Sam Adu-Kumi d , Annamalai Subramanian a , Shinsuke Tanabe a,n a Center for Marine Environmental Studies (CMES), Ehime University, Bunkyo-cho 2-5, Matsuyama 790-8577, Japan b CSIR Water Research Institute, P. O. Box AH 38, Achimota, Accra, Ghana c Senior Research Fellow Center, Ehime University, Bunkyo-cho 2-5, Matsuyama 790-8577, Japan d Environmental Protection Agency, P. O. Box M 326, Ministries Post Office, Accra, Ghana article info Article history: Received 25 February 2013 Received in revised form 2 May 2013 Accepted 8 May 2013 Available online 4 June 2013 Keywords: Fish PCBs PBDEs HBCDs Health risk Ghana abstract Fish consumption is known to have several health benefits for humans. However, the accumulation of toxic contaminants, such as PCBs, PBDEs and HBCDs in fish could pose health hazards. These contaminants were measured in tilapia fish species collected from Ghana. Mean levels were PCBs (62 ng/g lw), PBDEs (7.3 ng/g lw) and HBCDs (1.2 ng/g lw) and the predominance of CB-153, CB-138, CB- 180, BDE-47 and α-HBCD is in concordance with scientific literature. The congener profiles of PBDEs and PCBs in the fish suggest that sources of Penta- and Deca-BDE technical mixtures as well as technical PCB mixture (Clophen A60) exist in Ghana, while textile operations and associated release of untreated wastewater are likely to be significant sources of HBCDs. Comparison of the results with some reported studies showed moderate contamination in Ghana although Ghana is a developing country in Africa. Concentrations of PCBs measured in all the specimens in this study were below the food safety guidelines issued by the Food and Drug Administration, USA and the European Commission. The calculated hazard index levels of the target contaminants were below the threshold value of one, indicating that the levels of the target contaminants do not seem to constitute a health risk via fish consumption, with regard to PCBs, PBDEs and HBCDs, based on the limited number of samples that was accounted for in this study. However, due to the continuous discharge of untreated effluents, follow up studies are warranted as the consumption of fish is the primary route of human exposure to PCBs. This maiden report on the status of PBDEs and HBCDs in fish from Ghana will contribute to the knowledge about environmental contamination by POPs in a less industrialized region of the world so far sparsely covered in the literature. & 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Humans are exposed to a cocktail of environmental chemicals including the legacy and emerging persistent organic pollutants (POPs) such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and brominated flame retardants (BFRs) such as polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) and hexabromocyclododecanes (HBCDs). PCBs are a com- plex group of industrial chemicals, whose properties were useful in part because of their resistance to degradation. Unfortunately, this capability has enabled PCBs to become a widespread environmental contaminant throughout the global ecosystem. PCBs were widely used as dielectric fluids (in transformers and capacitors) and insulators, in addition to other applications such as plasticizers, surface coatings, inks, adhesives, paints and flame retardants (Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR), 2000). They were banned in most industrialized countries in the 1970s and in 2001 under the directions of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP, 2001). Nonetheless, PCBs have been found to continue to bioaccumulate in organisms. The toxic action of PCBs manifests itself in the form of dermal, hepatic, nervous, and immunological disorders, as well as their being powerful endocrine disrupters and carcinogenic (Mezzetta et al., 2011). BFRs are employed as additives in a variety of commercial applications such as electronic and electrical equipment, plastics, polystyrene foams, Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ecoenv Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety 0147-6513/$ - see front matter & 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoenv.2013.05.008 n Corresponding author. Tel.: +81 89 927 8171, Fax.: +81 92 927 8171. E-mail address: shinsuke@agr.ehime-u.ac.jp (S. Tanabe). Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety 94 (2013) 123–130