A rapid method for determination of Aroclor 1260 in cattle adipose tissue

A simple analytical procedure for the determination of Aroclor 1260 in cattle adipose tissue is described. The polychlorinated biphenyls residues are extracted from the tissue using a soxhlet extractor and the extracts are cleaned up using a florisil SEP-PAK cartridge. The residues are detected using a gas chromatograph equipped with an electron capture detector. The effect of extraction time of the Aroclor 1260 residues from the tissue has been investigated and a period of four hours is found to give satisfactory percent recoveries. Greater than 85 percent recoveries were obtained from adipose tissue spiked with Aroclor 1260. The method can be used to detect Aroclor 1260 residue levels as low as 0.10 parts per million. The method was used to analyze thirty-one cattle adipose tissue samples out of which twenty-six samples were taken from cattle suspected of exposure to a pasture containing electrical transformers and capacitors containing Aroclor 1260. Five control samples were collected from cattle with no known exposure. All twenty-six samples were found to contain non-detectable Aroclor 1260 residues.