The longitudinal biomonitoring of residents living near the waste incinerator of Turin: Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon metabolites after three years from the plant start-up.

The waste-to-energy (WTE) incinerator plant located in the Turin area (Italy) started to recover energy from the combustion of municipal solid waste in 2013. A health surveillance program was implemented to evaluate the potential health effects on the population living near the plant. This program included a longitudinal biomonitoring to evaluate temporal changes of some environmental pollutants, including polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), in residents living in areas near the Turin incinerator (exposed group, E) compared to those observed in subjects living far from the plant (not exposed group, NE). Ten monohydroxy-PAHs (OH-PAHs), consisting in the principal metabolites of naphthalene, fluorine, phenanthrene, and pyrene, were analyzed in urines collected from the E and NE subjects after one (T1) and three years (T2) of plant activity and compared with those determined in the same cohort established before the plant start-up (T0). Spearman correlation analysis was undertaken to explore possible associations between OH-PAHs and personal characteristics, lifestyle variables, and dietary habits. A linear mixed model (LMM) approach was applied to determine temporal trends of OH-PAHs observed in the E and NE subjects and to evaluate possible differences in trend between the two groups. Temporal trends of OH-PAHs determined by LMM analysis demonstrated that, at all times, the E group had concentrations lower than those assessed in the NE group, all other conditions being equal. Moreover, no increase in OH-PAH concentrations was observed at T1 and T2 either in E or in NE group. Significant positive correlations were found between all OH-PAHs and smoking habits. Regarding variables associated to outdoor PAH exposure, residence near high traffic roads and daily time in traffic road was positively correlated with 1-hydroxynaphthalene and 1-hydroxypyrene, respectively. In conclusion, no impact of the WTE plant on exposure to PAHs was observed on the population living near the plant.

Toxic PCB congeners and organochlorine pesticides in Italian human milk.

Human milk from four major Italian cities was analyzed for individual congeners of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB), DDT, DDE, hexachlorobenzene, and beta-hexachlorocyclohexane. Minimum and maximum concentrations in milk from individual mothers for most compounds ranged between one order of magnitude below and above the mean value of all mothers. Good agreements were found between results from pooled samples and mean values of individual samples. No statistically significant difference between cities was found and the levels in milk from Italian mothers did not differ significantly from published levels from other parts of the world. Principal component analyses revealed that the PCB congener distribution pattern was very similar in all mothers, independent of location. Average concentrations in milk from the four cities were 19(+/- 5) micrograms liter-1 total PCB or 3.2(+/- 0.8) ng liter-1 toxicity equivalents according to the most conservative TCDD toxicity equivalent factors of PCBs proposed in the literature, 70(+/- 18) micrograms liter-1 DDE, 4.5(+/- 1.2) micrograms liter-1 DDT, 5.6(+/- 1.9) micrograms liter-1 HCB, and 4.4(+/- 1.7) micrograms liter-1 beta-hexachlorocyclohexane.