Contaminant exposure in Montrealers of Asian origin fishing the St. Lawrence River: exploratory assessment.

Fishing and fish consumption are widely practiced among members of certain ethnocultural groups. Informal assessment led us to ascribe high levels of consumption of locally caught sportfish to Montrealers of Asian origin and to hypothesize that their choices of species and fish organs differ from those of the majority group. An exploratory assessment of contaminant bioindicators reflective of St. Lawrence River fish consumption was conducted in late 1995 among nine Vietnamese and nine Bangladeshi Montreal sportfishers identified by community contacts. Vietnamese participants, six men and three women, were 27-70 (median 36) years of age and had immigrated to Canada 3-20 (median 7) years earlier. In contrast, the nine Bangladeshi males aged 28-41 (median 34) years had been in Canada for 2-13 (median 4) years. Bio-indicator concentrations among Bangladeshi and Vietnamese participants are compared to those found for majority-community Montreal-area high-level consumers recruited on the St. Lawrence River during winter 1995. All results are presented as the median and 90th percentile. Hair mercury concentrations were higher for both Vietnamese (1.2, 4.6 microgram/g) and Bangladeshis (1.1, 2.3 microgram/g) than for majority-community sportfishers (0.7, 1.9 microgram/g). Certain organochlorine levels, specifically total PCB (estimated by plasma Aroclor 1260), p,p'-DDT, p,p'-DDE, and B-BHC, were highest in the Bangladeshis compared to Vietnamese and to majority-community sportfishers. In contrast, plasma levels of other pesticides were low in all three groups, including mirex, chlordane, and cis-nonachlor. A correlation between plasma p,p'-DDT levels and recency of arrival in Canada was found for the Bangladeshis. These data suggest a distinct pattern of tissue organochlorines, which we postulate relates to exposure prior to arrival in Canada and perhaps to the ongoing consumption of foods (other than St. Lawrence River sportfish) specific to these groups.
(Copyright 1999 Academic Press.)