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Title: ALKYLPHENOLS, ALKYLPHENOLETHOXYLATES AND THEIR METABOLITES (APES) AS POTENTIAL GREAT LAKES, TRIBUTARIES, AND EFFLUENT DOMINATED STREAM ENDOCRINE DISRUPTERS

Author
item Rice, Clifford
item GANNON, JOHN - IJC, WINDSOR
item SMITH, STEPHEN - USGS/BRD, VA

Submitted to: Final Project Report to Ohio EPA
Publication Type: Other
Publication Acceptance Date: 6/19/2003
Publication Date: 6/19/2003
Citation: Rice, C., Gannon, J.M., Smith, S.J. 2003. Alkylphenols, alkylphenolethoxylates and their metabolites (APES) as potential Great Lakes, tributaries, and effluent dominated stream endocrine disrupters. Final Project Report to USEPA, Great Lakes National Program Office. June 2003.

Interpretive Summary: A survey of the surfactants, alkylphenol and alkylphenol ethoxylate, was conducted in the Upper Midwest, fisheries and sediment, for upper limit levels of these urban related contaminants. As expected, some of the highest concentrations were measured in one of the most polluted waterways in the N. Branch of the Chicago River. Other sites, including Indiana Harbor Canal, Des Plains River, and Detroit River, were less polluted. Sediment concentrations were high in these same rivers. The distribution of the sufactants was different for fish than for sediments. Additional results suggest that high exposure levels may be associated with reproductive hormones. Further studies are required to determine the relationship between surfactant exposure and endocrine disruption.

Technical Abstract: A survey of alkylphenol and alkylphenol ethoxylate was conducted in the Upper Midwest, fisheries and sediment, for upper limit levels of these urban related contaminants. As expected, some of the highest concentrations were measured in one of the more polluted waterways of the N. Branch of the Chicago River. At this site, the range in concentration for just nonylphenol was 0.7 to 17.6 ppm in carp collected; the average total nonylphenol plus the lower ethoxy (1 to 5) substituted nonylphenol degradation products were 12.5 ppm in the 12 fish sampled here. Other sites were less polluted, with the averages ranging from 1.7 to 2.4 ppm in carp and 0.2 ppm in largemouth bass, including Indiana Harbor Canal, Des Plains River, and Detroit River. Sediment concentrations were also very high in these same rivers. However, while the non-ethoxy substituted form of these octyl and nonyl-APE were predominant in sediment, the 1-ethoxy substituted form dominated in the fish. Possible impacts from these chemicals were observed as altered levels of the reproductive hormone, vitellogenin, in the blood of the more highly exposed fish.