Assessment of the Amur River ecosystem pollution with benzene and its derivatives caused by an accident at the chemical plant in Jilin City, China.

Assessment of concentrations of benzene and its derivatives in the Amur water and fish caught in summer and autumn 2006 was carried out after Jilin chemical plant accident (winter 2005) in the People’s Republic of China. Fish sampling of Leiocassis ussuriensis conducted in the Amur River near Khabarovsk identified benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, isopropylbenzene, xylene reaching to 16, 98.7, 55, 54, and 206 μg kg−1, respectively. For Hypophthalmichtys molitrix Valenciennes sampled in the lower reaches of the Amur benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, xylene were found in amounts to 9, 15.4, 16 μg kg−1, and, benzene and xylene reaching 6 and 16 μg kg−1 were found in Huso dauricus and benzene and xylene of 2–6 and 13–16 μg kg−1, respectively, in Acipenser schrenckii. The above toxicants were not detected in the Amur water near the river mouth in autumn 2006.