en |
Distribution of organochlorine pesticides in atmospheric air of Tamilnadu, southern India
Srimurali, S.; Govindaraj, S.; Kumar, S. Krishna & Rajendran, R. Babu
Abstract
Passive air sampling was performed for urban,
suburban, coastal, and agriculture air during April 2009–
January 2010 in Tamilnadu, southern India, to know
the distribution and fate of organochlorine pesticides
(OCPs) residues. Exposed polyurethane foam samples
(30 ± 2 days) were soxhlet extracted, and the extracts
were analyzed using gas chromatography–mass spectrometric
method. The total concentrations of 13 OCPs were
in the range of not detected (ND)–41,400 pg/m3. Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane,
dichlorodiphenyldichloroethylene,
heptachlor, and mirex were found predominant during
monsoon season. The elevated α/γ isomer ratio of hexachlorocyclohexane
(HCH) (5.03) during summer revealed
fresh/recent usage of HCH in coastal area. Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane
ratio shows its fresh application
in all the locations during monsoon season, which probably
used to contain the diseases causing vectors. Detection of
banned pesticides, such as aldrin, dieldrin, and heptachlor
in air, indicating their illegal usage/or from old source.
Furthermore, mirex, an unregistered pesticide in India, is
being reported for the first time in air. More importantly,
the obtained information will be used as a valuable baseline
data for the management of atmospheric OCPs in future.
Keywords
Air pollution; Organochlorine pesticides; Passive air sampling; Gas chromatography–mass spectrometry; India
|