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Page 10 of 20 Andjelkovic et al. J Environ Expo Assess 2024;3:23 https://dx.doi.org/10.20517/jeea.2024.22

*
Table 1. POP levels (ng/g lw) in human milk samples (n = 206) collected in Belgium in 2014
Mean
POP LOQ * Occurrence frequency (%) *
LB MB * UB
Chlordane group
cis-Chlordane 0.00 1.00 2.00 2.0 0
Trans-Chlordane 0.00 1.00 2.00 2.0 0
Oxychlordane 0.88 3.04 5.20 5.0 13.6
Trans-Nonachlor 0.00 1.00 2.00 2.0 0
DDT group
o,p’-DDD 0.00 1.00 2.00 2.0 0
p,p’-DDD 0.03 1.02 2.01 2.0 1
o,p’-DDE 0.00 1.00 2.00 2.0 0
p,p’-DDE 52.23 52.23 52.23 2.0 100
o,p’-DDT 0.00 1.00 2.00 2.0 0
p,p’-DDT 4.10 4.39 4.69 2.0 70.0
HCB 5.54 5.56 5.59 2.0 97.6
HCB group
α-HCH 0.00 1.00 2.00 2.0 0
β-HCH 2.52 2.91 3.30 2.0 61.2
γ-HCH 0.06 1.04 2.02 2.0 1.9
PeCB 0.24 0.45 0.67 0.5 14.6
BB-153 0.00 0.05 0.10 0.1 0.5
PBDE group
BDE-28 0.01 0.06 0.11 0.1 5.8
BDE-47 0.22 0.24 0.27 0.1 53.4
BDE-99 0.06 0.10 0.14 0.1 25.7
BDE-100 0.06 0.09 0.13 0.1 24.8
BDE-153 0.46 0.46 0.47 0.1 92.7
BDE-154 0.10 0.13 0.16 0.1 38.4
BDE-183 0.00 0.10 0.20 0.2 0

* [16]
The values were also reported by Aerts et al. and may be used for comparison . POP: Persistent organic pollutant; LB: lower bound; MB:
medium bound; UB: upper bound; LOQ: limit of quantification; DDT: dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane; DDD: dichloro-diphenyl-dichloroethylene;
DDE: dichloro-diphenyl-dichloroethane; HCB: hexachlorobenzene; HCH: hexachlorocyclohexane isomer; PeCB: pentachlorobenzene; BB-153:
hexabromobiphenyl; PBDE: polybrominated diphenyl ether; BDE: brominated diphenyl ether.

and BDE-100 (25%). Conversely, BDE-28 exhibited the lowest detection frequency at 6%, and BDE-183 was
absent from all samples.

In other European countries, the BDE congener pattern was also dominated by BDE-47, BDE-153, BDE-99,
and BDE-100 [Table 3]. The highest median levels of BDE-153 were reported in France, the Netherlands,
and Germany, while the highest median levels of BDE-47 were found in milk from Norway, Greece, the UK,
Denmark, Finland, and Slovakia. The detection of BDE-47 in human milk and tissues is generally associated
with exposure to commercial formulations of Penta-BDE, in which BDE-47 is a primary component. In
contrast, the occurrence of BDE-153 is likely related to exposure to Octa-BDE products, along with its
increased persistence; multiple studies have identified BDE-153 as the most abundant PBDE congener.
Previous research conducted in Belgium [15,34] , including the present study, has noted elevated levels of BDE-
153 in human milk compared to BDE-47, as well as in cord blood, serum, and human milk samples
collected from Flanders .
[47]