First posted July 20, 2023 For additional information, contact: Director, Upper Midwest Water Science CenterU.S. Geological SurveyGifford Pinchot DriveMadison, WI 53726Contact Pubs Warehouse Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), some of the earliest “forever chemicals,” were used for decades in United States before 1979 when PCB manufacturing was banned. High concentrations found recently lower Cli...

Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), which are widely used as flame-retardants, have been increasing in environmental and human tissue samples during the past 20-30 years, while other structurally related, persistent organic pollutants such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (on a TEQ basis), have decreased. PBDEs have been detected in human blood, adip...

Mink (Mustela vison), river otters (Lontra canadensis) , and muskrats (Ondatra zibethicus) were collected from the upper Hudson River drainage during the 1998-1999 and 1999-2000 trapping seasons. Liver samples from 162 animals (102 mink, 40 otter, and 20 muskrats) were analyzed for lipids and PCBs as Aroclors. PCB concentrations were elevated for mink and otters collected from the Hudson River ...

In 2004 this Anacostia River biomonitoring project used a two-week Asiatic clam (Corbicula fluminea) translocation bioaccumulation protocol in an attempt to find the contaminant source areas of its most highly contaminated first-order tributaries. These tributaries were identified from earlier studies as Lower Beaverdam Creek (PCBs), NorthEast Branch (total PAHs and chlordane) and Watts Branch ...

The goal of this study was to investigate and identify natural recovery processes responsible for the recovery of polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB)-contaminated sediments at Lake Hartwell, SC. Ten sediment cores were collected from predetermined transect locations. Cores were analyzed by depth for Pb, Cs, and PCBs. Pb and Cs were used to date sediments in order to determine sediment accumulation r...