Determination Of Carcinogenic Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (Pahs), Anthracene In Different Variety Of Fish Samples In The Bangsai River Of Bangladesh

Carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), widely scattered in the environment because of inadequate combustion of fuels, are an important class of toxicological compounds. In the past decade, PAHs have drawn considerable attention because of their possible contamination to the environment and foodstuffs. A crude extract of the fish samples collected from the most polluted part of Bangsai river at Saver industrial zone was analyzed for the presence of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon, anthracene, by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). A suitable procedure for the extraction of PAHs from the fish sample was developed. A multi-layer clean-up (silica gel) column was used, followed by glass fiber filter (GFF) paper to eliminate the interfering organic compounds as well as lipids, fat and foreign particles. It was observed that PAHs deposition on the samples takes place in different morphological parts of the biological materials. Analysis was made for environmentally important PAHs and the results, the methods and some associated problems are discussed. Anthracene was found in almost all fish samples with the concentration in edible fishes collected from the Bangsai river being 0.761 to 3.294 µg/g. This concentration is within the range reported for other comparable regions of the world. Thus, it was suggested PAHs is oil contamination originating from the effluents of different industries such as tannery, dye, plastic, chemical, fertilizer or spillage’s and/or heavy ship traffic. However, the high concentration of carcinogenic anthracene encountered in these fishes should be considered serious as it is hazardous to human health. Based on fish consumption by Bangladeshi population, the daily intake of total carcinogens was 0.15 ng/person/day. Recovery studies with fortified samples indicated that the recovery efficiency for anthracene was 85.32%. It is concluded that three fish samples: baim, bata and taki were contaminated by the various aspects such as industrial effluents, air, highway vehicle exhaust and highway tar samples.