Body burden of polychlorinated biphenyls among persons employed in capacitor manufacturing

In an effort to assess exposure among workers engaged in capitor manufacture, PCB concentration was determined in plasma (290) and adipose tissue (61). In general, males had higher concentrations of PCBs than females. The correlation of plasma concentration (1–546 ppb) of the more highly chlorinated PCBs, which had been used in the past, with total duration of employment suggested accumulation over time. The gc-ec pattern of these PCB peaks was, in most cases, characteristic of exposure to a PCB mixture with 54% chlorine. The less highly chlorinated PCBs, di-, tri-, and tetrachlorobiphenyls, were the source of current exposure, and were observed in concentrations of 6–2530 ppb in plasma. Higher exposure occurred among persons with direct contact with PCBs, in jobs such as capacitor filling. Adipose tissue concentrations, for both the more highly chlorinated PCBs (1–165 ppm) and lower chlorinated PCBs (0.6-414 ppm), were proportional to those in plasma.