Investigation of presence, levels and health effects of PCBs and OCPs in an agricultural area with intensive greenhouse activities

Among the chemicals used with the improvement of industrial and agricultural activities, persistent organic pollutants (POPs) are a group that are toxic, persist in the environment for long time, bioaccumulative and undergo long range transport. Due to their persistence and adverse health effects on the living organisms, they have been banned under international conventions. However, they might still exist in environmental matrices due to their persistence and probable illegal use. In this study, POPs pollution was investigated in soil and passive air samples in Kumluca where a huge potential of chemical use resulting from intensive agricultural activities, especially greenhouse facilities, exists. Current use of chemicals was evaluated with chiral analysis and the potential health risk of pollutants was evaluated. 22 organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) and 15 polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) were analyzed in air and soil samples. Monitoring was conducted in two stages as preliminary and seasonal. The amounts of pollutants in the samples vary according to the sampling points and sampling period. Σ22OCP levels in air and soil samples at preliminary monitoring period were 0.884-97.0 pg/m3 and 0.463-9.87 ng/g dry weight (dw), respectively; and Σ15PCB levels were not detected (nd)-213 pg/m3 and nd-1.35 ng/g dw, respectively. Σ22OCP levels in air and soil samples at seasonal monitoring period were 32.6-741 pg/m3 and nd-28.1 ng/g dw, respectively; and Σ15PCB levels were nd-2767 pg/m3 and nd-0.302 ng/g dw, respectively. The seasonal variations of pollutants were not statistically significant. The most frequently detected OCPs in air and soil samples were endosulfan and dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane derivatives. Chiral analyzes which conducted for the evaluation of recent pollutant input has shown that there are no recent pollution inputs with some exceptions. Results of air-soil exchange calculations indicated that deposition to the soil is dominating. The assessment of the health risks has shown that pollutants detected in the region do not pose carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic risks, with two exceptions.