Review of DDT, DDE, DDD, DDMU and DDMS Toxicity Data for Organisms Used in Estuarine and Marine Sediment Toxicity Tests

• Published in: Bulletin of environmental contamination and toxicology Vol. 110; no. 6; p. 115
• Main Authors: Burkhard, Lawrence P., Elonen, Gregory E., Mount, David R.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer US 01-06-2023; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Aquatic Pollution; Contaminated sediments; DDD; DDE; DDT; DDT - analysis; Degradation products; Dichlorodiphenyl Dichloroethylene - analysis; Dichlorodiphenyl Dichloroethylene - toxicity; Earth and Environmental Science; Ecotoxicology; Environment; Environmental Chemistry; Environmental Health; Estuarine organisms; Exposure; Focused Review; Geologic Sediments - chemistry; Hydrocarbons, Chlorinated - analysis; Hydrocarbons, Chlorinated - toxicity; Isomers; Lethal effects; Marine pollution; Marine sediments; Mixtures; Nitrous oxide; Pesticides; Pollution; Pore water; Sediment pollution; Sediments; Soil Science & Conservation; Toxicity; Toxicity testing; Toxicity Tests; Waste Water Technology; Water; Water circulation; Water Management; Water Pollutants, Chemical - analysis; Water pollution; Water Pollution Control; Sediment; Marine; DDE; DDT; DDD; Toxicity
• ISSN: 0007-4861; 1432-0800; 1432-0800
• DOI: 10.1007/s00128-023-03754-0

The open literature was searched for laboratory toxicity data for marine/estuarine organisms exposed to dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) and its degradation products of dichlorodiphenyldichloroethylene (DDE), dichlorodiphenyldichloroethane (DDD), dichlorodiphenylchloroethylene (DDMU), and dichlorodiphenylchloroethane (DDMS). The goal of the review was to determine water-column toxicity values that could be used for porewater-based assessment of sediment toxicity. Data for individual compounds (and isomers thereof) in this group were very limited; most available data were for mixtures of multiple compounds, some defined and others undefined. Further, the majority of relevant studies involved exposure to spiked or field-contaminated sediment (rather than waterborne exposure), which requires inferring concentration in porewater from bulk sediment. Comparing data on the basis of effect concentrations for water or inferred concentration in sediment pore water, the lower reported effect concentrations were in the range of 0.05 to 0.1 µg/L, generally in studies of longer duration and/or evaluating sub-lethal effects. Because field exposures are generally to mixtures of these compounds in varied proportions, additional data on chemical-specific toxicity would aid in pore-water based toxicity assessment for marine/estuarine sediments contaminated with DDT-related chemicals.