Routine determination of organochlorine pesticides and polychlorinated biphenyls in human milk using capillary gas chromatography-mass spectrometry

Abstract

The analysis of human milk for residues of polychlorinated biphenyls and organochlorine pesticides is a laborious and expensive procedure. This paper describes an approach to this analysis which is significantly less labour-intensive and more cost effective than traditional methods. These advantages were achieved by the adsorption of the milk on to a polar substrate prior to Soxhlet extraction, using a polymeric HPLC column for the clean-up of the extract followed by a highly selective capillary GC-MS analysis for the determination of the residues.