Publikasjon

Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) in Human Samples from The MISA study (Northern Norway)

Om publikasjonen

This report is based on two human cohort studies called MISA 1 and MISA 2 or “The Northern Norway mother and child contaminant cohort study".

The MISA 1 implementation was done during 2007-2009. The aims of this study were to assess levels of contaminants in serum and urine from delivering women and possible associations to pregnancy outcome and child development. The database consists of biological samples, e.g., blood, serum, urine, breast milk, as well as comprehensive dietary questionnaires and medical records with pregnancy outcomes.

One of the most interesting findings in the study was the relatively low contaminant concentrations found, but also a rather serious lack of some essential elements, e.g., iodine in urine. Totally 515 delivering women joined the study, with participants from several areas of Northern Norway, from Bodø to Finnmark.

This report is based on 200 randomly selected participants for analytical purposes. MISA 2 is an ongoing follow up study using mainly the same protocol but also including nonpregnant young students in Bodø and Tromsø to assess the baseline levels in a non-pregnant compatible group. By using samples collected in MISA 1 and 2, this study investigates levels of the most important classical contaminants, as well as the fluorinated compounds.

Pooled samples of emerging compounds have been analysed, with mostly non-detectable levels in blood. Assessment of possible associations between contaminant levels, pregnancy outcome and child development are not included in this monitoring report. The results so far demonstrate a significant reduction of the levels of all analytes. Especially the significantly reduced levels of the perfluorinated compounds are very positive observations.