School of Natural and Social Sciences (SNSS)

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Browsing School of Natural and Social Sciences (SNSS) by Author "ADAM, Nahija Haji"

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    Persistent Organic Pollutants in Human Milk From Wesha Coastal Community in Pemba - Tanzania
    (SUZA, 2022-12-01) ADAM, Nahija Haji
    Human milk is considered to be vital for health development of infant as it provide infants with well-balanced nutrition and protection against infectious pathogens. The milk also offers psychological and social benefits to breastfed infants. Being very rich in Lipid fat, various Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) dissolve and accumulate in the milk to the level that can pose serious health risks to breast-fed infants. The levels of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) in human milk from Wesha coastal community in Pemba were analyzed using GC-ECD and GC-MS. The determined levels were assessed for their composition, variations and the associated health risks to breast-infants. A total of 31 POPs belonging to organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) categories were identified in the analyzed human milk. OCPs were predominated by DDTs while all PCBs were dominated by ortho-congeners. Composition of DDTs revealed highest contribution of the parent p’p-DDT followed closely by p’p-DDE while HCHs had highest contribution of γ–HCH followed by α-HCH indicating combination of both continuous exposures of new and aged sources of pollutants. The levels of DDTs were much higher than the levels reported elsewhere with the exception of those reported in human milk from South Africa. In contrary, PCBs in this study were much lower than many reported levels from other parts of the world. ΣDDTS and ΣPCBs showed positive association and both of them increased significantly with lipid contents indicating that the two groups of POPs are originated from the same sources of exposure and are highly lipophilic in nature. On the other hand ΣHCHs gave strong negative associations with ΣDDTs and ΣPCBs and decreased with lipid content because of its relatively lower lipophilic nature compared to ΣDDTs and ΣPCBs. In contrary, DDTs and PCBs decreased significantly with lactation period, maternal age and parity whereas the HCHs depicted increased trend with lactation period, maternal age and parity proving that the first-born babies are exposed with the highest pollutant load from their mothers. Health risks assessment using both HQ and HI revealed possibility of potential health hazard to breast-fed infants. The follow-up study focusing on assessment of dietary intake of Wesha community is recommended to reveal the potential sources of POPs exposure in human