Reply to Comment of Edmund A.C. Crouch and Laura C. Green, on: “Persistent organic pollutants in 9/11 world trade center rescue workers: Reduction following detoxification” by James Dahlgren, Marie Cecchini, Harpreet Takhar, and Olaf Paepke [Chemosphere 69/8 (2007) 1320–1325]

Dear Sir,We have reviewed the TEQ calculation in our accompa-nying article published in this issue of Chemosphere (Dahl-gren et al., 2007). All calculations of concentrations byweight and other observations in this pilot evaluation arecorrectly represented. However, Drs. Green and Crouchare correct in noting that we did enter an error into theconversion of net weight to TEQ. We therefore submitthe following as corrections to Table 1 and Fig. 1. On com-pletion of the therapeutic regimen, WHO-TEQ for mono-ortho PCBs was decreased by 24.4%. The statistical analy-sis of the net reduction of each congener by weight (lipidbased) presented in Table 2 remains correct. A number ofindividual congeners had statistically significant measureddecreases at the completion of this therapeutic regimen.The 23.4% mean reduction by weight (lipid based) of allhalocarbons measured is represented in Fig. 2 of this letter.This is encouraging data when considering the toxicity pro-files of these compounds, and that their half-lives are mea-sured in years, even decades.The measured dioxin, dibenzofuran, and PCB congenerlevels and corresponding TEQ for each subject before andafter detoxification is presented in Table 1. Prior to detox-ification treatment, three subjects (WTC005, WTC006,H50605) had levels of 1,2,3,6,7,8-hexa-CCD or OCDD ator above the NHANES III 75th percentile. All subjectshad levels of 2,3,3