[Persistent organic micropollutants in Mediterranean organisms and risk associated]

Persistent organic pollutants are object of a global threaty between governments, including measures to reduce or eliminate their release in the environment. Their presence and levels found in some organisms of the Mediterranean Sea appear to give some concern. The preliminary risk assessment presented here, infact, for dioxin-like action chemicals, shows a potential hazard for species belonging to higher levels of the food web. For example, in the eggs of a Mediterranean shark species, dioxin-like action PCBs concentration levels are one magnitude order higher than the No Observed Effect Level, evaluated on eggs of a laboratory fish species. Marine mammals, in addition, appear particularly sensitive to tissue levels of POPs. Their sensitivity to specific pathogenic organisms appears increased in specimen showing higher levels of these microcontaminants.