Twelve successive monthly samplings and analyses of representative fish and shellfish and of mud and water from the lower Mississippi River showed neither a high concentration of endrin nor a time-ordered change in the concentration. The general absence of endrin from the samples indicated no significant contamination

Novak, Arthur F.

Rao, M. R. Ramachandra

English

University of Minnesota, Morris (UMM): Digital Well

Journal of the Minnesota Academy of Science Volume 34 Number 1 Article 6 1967 Food Safety Program: Endrin Monitoring in the Mississippi River Arthur F. Novak Louisiana State University M. R. Ramachandra Rao Louisiana State University Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.morris.umn.edu/jmas  Part of the Environmental Health and Protection Commons Recommended Citation Novak, A. F., & Rao, M. R. (1967). Food Safety Program: Endrin Monitoring in the Mississippi River. Journal of the Minnesota Academy of Science, Vol. 34 No.1, 16-17. Retrieved from https://digitalcommons.morris.umn.edu/jmas/vol34/iss1/6 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Journals at University of Minnesota Morris Digital Well. It has been accepted for inclusion in Journal of the Minnesota Academy of Science by an authorized editor of University of Minnesota Morris Digital Well. For more information, please contact skulann@morris.umn.edu. The following report is reprinted in its entirety from Science, 150 (3704), 1732-1733,) Food Safety Program: Endrin Monitoring in the Miss.issippi River ARTHUR F. NOVAK and M. R. RAMACHANDRA RAO 1 Louisiana State University ABSTRACT - Twelve successive monthly samplings and analyses of representative fish and shell-fish and of mud and water from the lower Mississippi River showed neither a high concentration of endrin nor a time-ordered change in the concentration. The general absence of endrin from the samples indicated no significant contamination. The mass death of fish in the lower Mississippi River in 1963 led to speculation concerning the accumulation of insecticide residues in the environment and rumors of increasing concentration of endrin in the fauna of the "food chain"; buildup of endrin in soil and water was postulated. We investigated these rumors by monthly sampling and analysis of mud and water, top-water fish (bream), bottom-water fish (catfish), shrimp, and oys-ters from the lower river for one year beginning in July 1964. Fish and mud and water were sampled at Baton Rouge, Louisiana, from the east bank opposite Port Al-len Lock; shrimp and oysters were obtained from the area of shellfish production below New Orleans. Replicated determinations for endrin were made on 8 to 15 randomly selected fish . Samples of mud and water, containing about 50 per cent mud by volume, were col-lected from the same general area as the fish; shrimp and oysters were randomly sampled. All samples were pro-tected from change in composition by sealing in airtight containers and by freezing between the times of collec-tion and analysis. The samples, subjected to appropriate cleaning, were analyzed for endrin by gas-liquid chromatography, with an electron-capture detector (Table 1 ) . Homogenates of fish were subjected to hydrolysis by alcoholic potas-sium hydroxide and were extracted several times with normal hexane. Samples of shrimp and oyster were ho-mogenized, extracted with a mixture of hexane and iso-propanol (3 : I), and filtered through glass wool. Samples of mud and water were extracted with a mix-ture of ether and isopropanol 2 : 1. The following procedure was used with all samples. Extraction solvents were freed of alcohol (and of alkali, when present) by repeated washings with water. Drying with sodium sulfate, concentration, and liquid-phase chromatographic cleanup through a magnesium oxide-Celite No. 545 column preceded quantification. The ap-propriate portion of the eluate was analyzed by gas-liquid partition chromatography, with an electron-capture detector. Quantification was determined from calibra-tion curves prepared by analysis of fortified endrin so-lutions in hexane. Analyses were repeatedly verified by recovery experiments; recovery averaged 85 per cent. The lower limit of confident analysis is estimated to be 0.005 parts per million; this is the lowest analytical 1 Both authors are in the Department of Food Science and Technology, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge. 16 TABLE I. Conditions for gas-chromatographic analysis for endrin with a Micro-Tek model 2000 R. Item Column Subsliate Support Length, shape Bore Carrier gas Pressure Flow rate Operating temp. Output polarity Isothermal Output attenuator Input attenuator Chart speed Detector Condition 5 per cent silicone D-11 Chromosorb W, 60-80 mesh 91 cm, coiled helix 6 mm, Pyrex Methane-argon, 5 :95 2.7 aim (g) 142 cm3/ min 200°C, column; 210°C, flash heater; 205°C, detector Negative Negative 8-16 1.2 cm/min Tritium Electron affinity value that is considered discernible from the analytical response of interfering substances found occurring nat-urally in the samples analyzed. Analyses yielding less than 0.005 ppm are reported as negative. Three readings per sample per month were usually taken. Oysters and shrimp were negative throughout. Catfish yielded 0.01, 0.02, and 0.01 ppm of endrin in July 1964; and one reading of 0.01 ppm in each of August and October 1964 and June 1965. Bream yielded one reading of 0.01 ppm in each of July and October 1964 and February 1965. Mud and water were negative throughout apart from two readings of 0.01 ppm in July 1964 and one of 0.01 ppm in each of February and June 1965. The data show neither a high level of endrin nor a time-ordered change in the endrin level. The general absence of endrin from the samples indicates that there is no significant contamination of the envinronment by the pesticide, but the possibility of localized and sporadic occurrence of residues is not ruled out. We also conclude that the portion of human food supply represented by the organisms studied is not contaminated by endrin. References BANN, J. M., LAU, S. C., POTTER, J. C.J. Agr. Food Chem. 6,196 (1958). BONELLI, E. J., HARTMENN, H., DIMICK, K. P. Gas Chromatography Retention Times and Sensitivity Data The Minnesota Academy of Science for Insecticides and Herbicides (Wilkens Institute of Research, Walnut Creek, Calif., 1963). HENDERSON, c., PICKERING, Q. H., TERZWELL, C. M. Trans. Am. Fisheries Soc. 88, 23 (1959). ROSEN, A. A. and MIDDLETON, F. M. Anal. Chem. 31, 1729 (1959). WATTS, J. 0. and KLEIN, A. K. J. Assoc. O/fic. Agr. Chemists 45, 102 (1962). Manitoba Serv-ice Centers in the Early Settlement Period JAMES M. RICHTIK1 University of Minnesota, Minneapolis ABSTRACT - The pattern of service centers in Manitoba in 1872 and in 1886 is examined. Al-though o high correlation between transportation nodality and importance of service center is evident, this nodality is apparently a concomitant of service-center growth rather than a prime couse. The ideas of groups and individuals involved in promoting service-center growth seems to be the key to understanding this growth. On the North American continent, service centers ap-peared more or less concomitantly with settlement, and transportation nodality was of major significance in the appearance and growth of such centers. This paper at-tempts to explain the growth of Manitoba's service cen-ters during the first settlement period. The year 1872 marked roughly the start of the first major wave of settlement in the province and is the first year for which data on postal revenue and homesteading are available. Prior to 1872, the inhabitants of the province were de-scended from either French Canadians or European im-migrants. After 1872, most new settlements were started by persons from Ontario. The year 1886 marked roughly the end of the first wave of settlement. Immigration to the province actually declined most seriously in 1884, and it remained low until 1896; census material is available only for 1886 and 1891. Figures on postal revenue are continuous only to 1887. An examination of the service-center patterns in 1872 and in 1886 forms the basis for the discussion of factors affecting service-center growth. Postal revenue is used to measure the importance of service centers. It is contended that the postal revenue of a particular center measures both the internal factors of population and amount of business transacted, and the external factors of a center's ability to attract people to its hinterland. Postal revenue appears to correlate highly with population and number of services in a center, but the paucity of data on population and number of serv-ices make a definitive statement impossible. Population figures are available only for incorporated centers, and data on services are generally incomplete; neither are available for a series of years. It is contended that postal figures are as good indices of growth as either of the other two measurements. They are readily available and complete, making them admirably suited to the present study. The possible complaint that they are unsuitable for temporal studies bcause of changes in the value of dollars seems to have no validity because postal rates did not change. A major problem, however, is the tend-' B.A.; M.A. ( 1964) University of Manitoba. Journal of, Volume Thirty-four, No. I, I 967 ency for changes in the organization of the postal serv-ice to lag behind changes in other services, but usually such a lag is in the nature of a few months and is mini-mized by the use of yearly data. The map of postal revenue in 1872 (Fig. l) shows the two most important features of the service-center pattern at the time - the predominance of Fort Garry ( Winnipeg) and the riverine location of almost all serv-ice centers. Both features are the result of cultural-historical forces operating in a particular physical en-vironment. The 1872 pattern had its roots in the fur-trade period, although the pattern did not emerge until after 1812. Prior to 1812, the only whites in the area were trappers and traders. Transportation was mostly on the rrvers, thus it was on rivers that the first forts were established. One of these was Fort Garry, established at the con-fluence of the Red and Assiniboine Rivers in the eight-eenth century. After 1812, when settlers began arriving and taking up land nearby, the Fort became increasingly important until, in 1823, it was made the headquarters for the fur trade of the whole Canadian West. The first settlers chose land near the Fort; later settlement fol-lowed the rivers, clinging closely to the banks. Only the land immediately on the river had been bartered from the Indians, and the river was the main highway, winter and summer. The natural levees along the river were generally immune to flooding and to the annual prairie fires, and they supported an abundant growth of trees for fuel, building material, and shelter. Only after the river-front lands were almost all occupied die.I the popu-lation begin to spread back from the rivers. Fort Garry, therefore, enjoyed a more or less central position within the populated area. Routes between the Canadian West and Europe or Eastern Canada, whether via Hudson Bay, Lake of the Woods, or St. Paul, aU passed through Fort Garry, which served as a sort of wholesaling center. The Fort's transportation and population nodality made it the most attractive place for the establishment of new services, particularly those of which the small population 17 

Food Safety Program: Endrin Monitoring in the Mississippi River

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Food Safety Program: Endrin Monitoring in the Mississippi River

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