[Concentration of PCDDs, PCDFs and coplanar PCBs in breast milk of Yusho patients and normal subjects].

Levels of PCDDs, PCDFs and coplanar PCBs were measured in human breast milk obtained from two Yusho patients and nine healthy subjects. The concentrations of PCDDs, PCDFs and coplanar PCBs in the breast milk of respective Yusho patients were 18.2 and 28.9, 168.8 and 418.3, and 23.8 and 55.1 pg Toxic Equivalents (TEQs)/g fat, respectively, and their mean concentrations in normal controls were 8.2, 5.1 and 21.8 pg TEQ/g fat, respectively. The results also indicated that there was a significant difference between Yusho patients and normal subjects in the concentrations of certain isomers of PCDDs, PCDFs and coplanar PCBs in the breast milk. For example, the levels of 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 8-HxCDD were 4 and 8 times higher than the mean concentration in the normal subjects, and 2, 3, 4, 7, 8-PeCDF, 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 8-HxCDF and 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 8-HxCDF, so-called 'Yusho isomers' were 15 to 98 times higher than those in the normal subjects. Daily intakes of TEQ values were estimated to be 506 and 2200 pg TEQs/kg/day for breast-feeding babies of Yusho patients, and to be from 97 to 197 pg TEQs/kg/day for healthy subjects. These TEQ values were much greater than the ADI of 1-10 pg/kg/day, therefore, we should give due attention to the possible health effects due to PCDDs, PCDFs and coplanar PCBs in the breast milk of healthy mothers, as well as Yusho mothers.