TEQS and body burden for PCDDs, PCDFs, and dioxin-like PCBs in human adipose tissue

Abstract Polychlorinated dibenzo- p -dioxins (PCDDs), polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDFs), mono- ortho and non- ortho polychlorinated biphenyls (dioxin-like PCBs) were determined in samples of human fat tissue from nine Italian obese patients. The toxicity equivalent (TEQ) values ranged from 9 to 25 pg TEQ g −1 lipid (WHO-TEF values, 2005 [Van den Berg, M., Birnbaum, L.S., Denison, M., De Vito, M., Farland, W., Feeley, M., Fiedler, H., Hakansson, H., Hanberg, A., Haws, L., Rose, M., Safe, S., Schrenk, D., Tohyama, C., Tritscher, A., Tuomisto, J., Tysklind, M., Walker, N., Peterson, R.E., 2006. The 2005 World Health Organization reevaluation of human and mammalian Toxic Equivalency Factors for dioxins and dioxin-like compounds. Toxicol. Sci. 93, 223–241]), the contribution of dioxin-like PCBs was more than 30% of the total TEQ values. The obese body burdens varied from 6 to 11 ng TEQ kg −1 body weight (BW), exceeding the estimated steady-state body burden 5 ng TEQ kg −1 BW, based on lipid adjusted serum concentrations from several populations in the mid-1990s, calculated in the risk assessment US EPA document.