Chapter 3
PTS limits and levels
of concern in the environment,
food and human tissues

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3.1. Environment and food
Chapter 3
Table 3.1.
3.1. Environment and food
Maximum Permissible
Concentrations (MPC)
A basic approach used to assess the potential risk posed to
of selected contaminants
ecosystems and human health by toxic and other harmful
in water, for water bodies
effects of pollutants involves comparison observed con-
of value to fisheries.
centrations of pollutants in the environment with estab-
lished `Maximum Permissible Levels' and `Levels of
Concern' (values that trigger action) in corresponding
media. There are a number of guidelines and other nor-
Table 3.2.
mative documents that provide values for such levels, for
Maximum Permissible
various substances in different media. Among these, the
Concentrations (MPC)
following documents are of relevance to the project:
and Approximately
1. List of Fishery Standards: Maximum Permissible
Permissible Concentrations
(APC) for selected
Concentrations and Approximately Permissible

contaminants in soil.
Levels of Harmful Substances Effects in Water of
Water Bodies of Fishery Value (State Committee of
the Russian Federation for Fishery, 1999).
2. List of Maximum Permissible Concentrations and
Table 3.3.
Approximately Permissible Concentrations of
The Netherlands Maximum
Chemical Compounds in Soil (Ministry of Health of
Permissible Concentrations
the USSR, 1993).
(MPC) and Levels of Concern
(LOC) for selected contami
nants in soil and bottom sed
3. Neue Niederlandische Liste. Altlasten Spektrum
iments (as employed in the
3/95. Rules for Building SP 11-102-97, Annex B
Russian Federation).
(State Committee of the Russian Federation for
Table 3.4.
Building, 1997).
Guideline values for pesticide
concentrations in soil and
4. Maximum Permissible Concentrations of Pesticides
water of freshwater bodies.
in Foods and Methods of their Analysis (Ministry of
Health of the USSR, 1989).
5. Drinking Water. Hygienic Guidelines for Water
Quality in Centralized Water Supply Systems.
Quality Control (State Committee of the Russian

Federation for Sanitary Epidemioilogical Control,
1996).
6. Provisional Method of Isomer-specific Estimation

of Polychlorinated Dibenzo-n-dioxins in Water
(Ministry of Health of the USSR, 1991).


7. Hygienic Limits of Pesticide Contamination of
Environmental Objects (Ministry of Health, 2003).
Table 3.5. Maximum Permissible Concentrations (MPC) for heavy metals in food
8. Hygienic Requirements for Safety and Nutrition
items, and internationally recommended Provisional Tolerable Weekly Intakes (PTWI).
Value of Foodstuffs (Ministry of Health, 2001).
urine, or breast milk, etc. Biomonitoring can be used to
9. Toxic Substances and Disease Registry Update (U.S.
establish the body burden or internal dose of specific
Department of Human Health and Services, 2003).
environmental contaminants through all possible
routes of exposure. Population-based biomonitoring,
Guideline values from these documents relevant to
in combination with environmental monitoring (e.g.,
substances and media considered under the project
of air, water, food, and soil), is considered to be one of
are presented in Tables 3.1­3.7.
the most valuable tools in providing information on
spatial, temporal, ethnic and socio-economic trends in
3.2. Human blood and breast milk
human exposure to contaminants. Biological monitor-
In epidemiological studies, biological monitoring, or
ing is also becoming widely used in studies linking envi-
biomonitoring, is the assessment of exposure of a pop-
ronmental exposure to pollution-related diseases, for
ulation to specific toxic substances by means of system-
general environmental health monitoring programs,
atic or periodic measurements of these substances or
and also to explore body burdens of contaminants in
their metabolites in human specimens, such as blood,
populations that may be at increased risk of exposure.
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Chapter 3
3.2. Human blood and breast milk









Table 3.6. Russian national food safety limits and internationally recommended Minimal Risk Levels (MRL) and Tolerable Daily Intake (TDI) values for persistent organic
substances. * ­ (ATSDR, 2004). ** ­ established only for intermediate (> 14 364 days) exposure duration.
their metabolites in various human body fluids and tis-
sues, in particular in the typical situation of integrated
exposure to a mixture of different chemicals in combi-
nation with other relevant (stress) factors that can
influence health.
The best opportunity for the developing a reliable
health risk assessment process is afforded by those bio-
logical criteria which are based on `limit values'
derived from well-designed epidemiological studies
and supported by relevant laboratory experiments.
Limit values such as those issued by the following
organizations:
·
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (biological tolerance val-
Table 3.7. Maximum Permissible Concentrations (MPC) for HCH and DDTs
in various species, tissues, and processed foodstuffs.
ues for occupational exposure);
·
Human Biomonitoring Commission in Germany (human
Currently, levels of individual human exposure to the
biomonitoring values; HBM-1 and HBM-2);
most important PTS that occur in the Arctic environ-
·
US American Conference of Governmental Industrial
ment are assessed by measuring their concentrations
Hygienists (ACGIH) (biological exposure indices (BEI));
(or those of their metabolites) in blood. The develop-
and
ment of adequate analytical instrumentation and pro-
·
Health Canada (Medical Service Branch ­ Biological
tocols, as well as the adoption of effective quality con-
Guidelines)
trol procedures, makes possible reliable measurement
help to interpret the analytical results of biological
of compounds and their metabolites at very low con-
monitoring.
centrations.
Limit values relating to human media, for contami-
In spite of numerous advances in techniques, there are
nants under consideration in the project, are summa-
still some major challenges in the field of biological
rized in Table 3.8. At present, the number of such val-
monitoring. A number of difficulties have been
ues for PTS in blood and breast milk is still very
encountered in determination of specific health
limited.
effects due to contaminant exposure in humans and
their indicators, which are crucial components of the
With respect to Table 3.8, it is important to note that
risk assessment process. Production of reliable risk
the Health Canada Guidelines for PCBs are
assessments by means of biological monitoring alone
expressed in terms of `Arochlor 1254' concentra-
is, for certain groups of persistent toxic substances,
tions, and as such do not adequately reflect risks
such as pesticides, still beyond current capabilities.
from contamination by the whole range of substances
This is due to a lack of detailed knowledge on how to
within the PCB group. Following discussion within
interpret observed concentrations of the substances or
the AMAP Human Health Assessment Group, it was
31

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3.2. Human blood and breast milk
Chapter 3
therefore recommended that the Health Canada
One of the most recently updated lists of reference values
Guidelines should be employed only for the purpose
for environmental toxicants, based on a series of measure-
of general comparisons of exposure levels and poten-
ments of blood and breast milk concentrations of POPs in
tial risks.
large populations, has been produced by the German
Human Biomonitoring Commission (German Human
Biomonitoring Commission, 2003); Tables 3.9-3.11.
Table 3.10. Reference values for some persistent organic pollutants in whole blood
(µg/L) of adults aged 18 to 69 years living in Germany.
Taking into account the need to ensure harmonized
study protocols, another excellent opportunity for
comparison of biomonitoring data is provided by the
results of comprehensive national and international

(e.g. circumpolar) human health monitoring pro-
grammes, such as those summarized and assessed by
AMAP (AMAP 1998; 2002, 2003a).
It should be noted that there are no existing Russian bio-
logical exposure indices (BEI) of any type. BEI for lead
and some other metals have recently been proposed and
tentatively approved by the Sub-committee on Sanitary
Table 3.8. Levels of Concern (LOC), and Action Levels and Limits for selected PTS
and Hygienic Regulations, of the Ministry of Health.
in human blood and breast milk.
However, they have not been formally endorsed, due to
[1] Health Canada, 1997 ­ Guidelines adopted based on (CACAR, 1997)
the adoption by the State Duma, in 2003, of new legisla-
[2] WHO, 1989c.
[3] ACGIH, 2004.
tion on technical regulation. According to this legisla-
[4] German Human Biomonitoring Commission, 1996.
tion, the the Ministy of Health has no longer power to
endorce any regulatory document. In general, reorgani-
In cases where biological threshold values have not yet
sation of Russian governmental structures have led to
been established, judgments regarding guideline lev-
changes in the process of development, endorsement
els of a chemical or its metabolites in biological sam-
and enforcement of regulative documents.
ples can, in many instances, be facilitated by compari-
son to suggested reference values (RVs). These
As shown in the forthcoming chapters, a lack of formal-
describe an (acceptable) exposure situation for a
ly adopted values of the levels of concern, threshold val-
given group of the general population to a contami-
ues, and other indicators of health effects of contami-
nant. It should be explicitly pointed out that such ref-
nants creates significant difficulties for human health
erence values are strictly statistically-derived values,
authorities and practical medical personnel in assess-
and are of no health relevance per se. However, RVs
ment of PTS effects in general, and on indigenous pop-
are often the only available means by which to assess
ulation in particular. However, this lack should not block
integrated human exposure to environmental con-
adoption of practical measures on reduction of human
taminants entering the body through several path-
health risk due to PTS intake. In this case, application of
ways, when relevant biological limits have not yet been
the precautionary principle can be recommended.
established.
Table 3.11.
Table 3.9.
Reference values for some
polychlorinated biphenyls
Reference values
(PCBs) and organochlorine
for some persistent organic
pesticides in breast milk,
pollutants in whole blood
mg/kg lipid.
(µg/L) of children aged 9 to
11 years living in Germany.



32

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