A comprehensive assessment of endocrine-disrupting chemicals in an Indian food basket: Levels, dietary intakes, and comparison with European data.

Endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) in diet are a health concern and their monitoring in food has been introduced in the European Union. In developing countries, EDC dietary exposure data are scarce, especially from areas perceived as pollution hotspots, including industrialized countries like India. Several persistent organic pollutants (POPs) act as EDCs and pose a pressure to human health mainly through dietary exposure. In the present study, a range of organochlorine pesticides (OCPs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), dioxins and furans were measured in several food items collected from Indian urban (Delhi) and peri-urban (Dehradun) areas. Food basket contamination data were used to estimate EDC dietary exposure and compare it with that of the average European population estimated from available monitoring data. All the target contaminants were found in most food items, especially in dairies and meat products. OCPs were the main contributers to the measured EDC contamination. Food supplied to Delhi's markets had higher EDC contamination than that supplied to the peri-urban market in Dehradun. Despite lax compliance and control measures, Indian dietary exposure of OCPs and PBDEs were comparable with that of Europe and were lower for PCBs and dioxins. Higher meat consumption in Europe only partly explained this pattern which was driven also by the higher EDC residues in some European food items. A substantial part of endocrine disrupting potential in the diet derives from food and animal feeds internationally traded between developed and developing countries. With increasingly globalized food systems, internationally harmonized policies on EDC content in food can lead to better protection of health in both these contexts.

Health and ecological risk assessment of emerging contaminants (pharmaceuticals, personal care products, and artificial sweeteners) in surface and groundwater (drinking water) in the Ganges River Basin, India.

Pharmaceuticals, personal care products (PPCPs), and artificial sweeteners (ASWs) are contaminants of emerging concern commonly found in the aquatic environments. In India, studies reporting environmental occurrence of these contaminants are scarce. In this study, we investigated the occurrence and distribution of 15 PPCPs and five ASWs in the river and groundwater (used untreated as drinking water) at several sites along the Ganges River. Based on the measured groundwater concentrations, we estimated the life-long human health risk from exposure to PPCPs through drinking. In addition, we estimated the risk of exposure to PPCPs and ASWs in the river water for aquatic organisms. The sum of detected PPCPs in the river water ranged between 54.7-826 ng/L, with higher concentrations in the severely anthropogenically influenced middle and lower reaches of the Ganges. The highest concentration among the PPCPs in the river water was of caffeine (743 ng/L). The sum of detected ASWs in river water ranged between 0.2-102 ng/L. Similar to PPCPs, the sum of ASWs in the river water was higher in the middle and lower reaches of the Ganges. In groundwater, the sum of detected PPCPs ranged between 34-293 ng/L, whereas of ASWs ranged between 0.5-25 ng/L. Negligible risk for humans was estimated from PPCPs in the drinking groundwater sources along the Ganges River, whereas moderate risks to PPCPs and ASWs (namely: caffeine, sulfamethoxazole, triclocarban, triclosan, and sucralose) were estimated for aquatic organisms in the Ganges River.