Concentrations of organochlorine pesticides in cord serum of newborns in Wuhan, China

Organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) had been widely used in China before they were banned decades ago due to the concern of the toxicology to human. Previous reports showed that OCPs were still often detectable in human bodies. However, there is limited study concerning the body burden of OCPs in infants and fetus in China. In this study, the prenatal exposure to OCPs was evaluated by measuring OCPs in cord serum. A total of 1046 cord serum samples were collected in Wuhan during 2014 and 2015, and analyzed for the concentrations of hexachlorocyclohexanes (HCHs), dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethanes (DDTs), dichlorodiphenyldichloroethanes (DDDs) and dichlorodiphenyldichloroethylenes (DDEs) by using gas chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (GC-MS/MS). The median levels of Sigma HCHs and Sigma DDTs were 10.1 nglg lipid (with the range from