Chlorinated Hydrocarbon Pesticide Residue in Human Tissues

Abstract

Multiple tissues from 70 autopsy cases in Tucson, Ariz, during 1967 and 1968 were analyzed for chlorinated hydrocarbon pesticide residues. Levels of dichlorodiphenyl trichloroethane (DDT), its dehydrochlorinated metabolic derivative, DDE, and dieldrin are not remarkably different from those found in other localities in the United States or from those measured about five years ago in Arizona. No definite associations between pesticide levels and causes of death were evident. Fair intertissue correlations could be shown between certain tissue lipid concentrations of DDT and DDE, but analogous correlations in the case of dieldrin were usually weaker. There is reason to believe that the distribution of dieldrin to nonlipid tissue components exceeds that of DDT and DDE.