Assessment of the levels of chlorinated pesticides in breast milk in Kuwait

Breast milk samples, randomly collected from 32 Kuwaiti donors were analyse d for chlorinated pesticides. DDE residues ranged from 127 to 3333 mug/kg, averaging, 833 mug/kg, expressed on a fat weight basis. DDT levels ranged f rom 0.6 to 67 mug/kg fat and averaged 12.4 mug/kg, fat. High DDE/DDT ratios were found, which indicated that the exposure to DDT, in most cases, happe ned quite some time ago. In addition many of the samples also contained iso mers of HCH, heptachlor-epoxide, aldrin, dieldrin and endrin. Residue level s of non-DDT pesticides were generally low. Overall levels of DDT-pesticide s in Kuwaiti milk samples were lower than levels reported from other Middle Eastern countries, although methodologies may not be directly comparable.