Species-specific carry-over of toxaphene

Toxaphene, a highly effective insecticide, of which more than 550,000 tons were produced worldwide up to now, is especially accumulated in salt water fishes. Because fish meals and -oils are used as components in animal nutri tion, a potential risk of a toxaphene contamination is existing. To ensure an efficient protection of the consumer, we carried out a carry over experi ment with laying hens and - based on this results - another one with pigs. Preliminary results show a likely different distribution of the toxaphene c ongeneres in the species ,,hen" and,,pig". Furthermore in fatty tissue of p igs an unknown toxaphene-compound in significant amounts with a high biolog ical half-time period was detected. We now try to elucidate the,,nature" of this compound in cooperation with PARLAR (TU Munich). Because the results of the feeding experiments with laying hens are only transferable in a limi ted way to the species,,pig", carry-over-experiments with ruminants like sh eep or cattle are necessary.