[Biological tracking on the presence of Hg, PCB and HCG in milk and hair of women resident in a region with high incidence of children born with malformation (Augusta)].

Following the findings of some studies that have found the presence of Hg, HCB and PCBs in fish from the bay of Augusta and showed a strong association between the consumption of local fish and the increased risk of children born malformed among women of the same city, the authors, in collaboration with the judicial authorities, have initiated a study on the tracking of these substances in biological tissues of mothers exposed to risk of contamination because resident in the Syracusan industrial area. The study showed differences in excess, and statistically significant, among mothers of Augusta respect to a sample of Controls selected in another Sicilian region not exposed to the same risk of contamination, thereby reinforcing the idea that some substances from industrial source found in the environment and in the body of the mothers of Augusta have been able to contribute to the higher incidence of congenital malformations and abortions in the examined region, and leading a company petrochemicals to recognize the families of born malformed an economic compensation.