A total of 5 samples of marine sediments were analyzed for residues of organochlorine insecticide from the coast of Chittagong, Bangladesh. The analytical method consisted of 3 phases, extraction, clean-up and, analysis through Gas Chromatography (GC) with Electron Capture Detector (ECD). The concentration ranges were as follows 0.18 - 1.33 ng.g¹ for aldrin, 0.2 - 1.84 ng.g¹ for dielddrin, 0.30 - 1.31 ng.g¹ for endrin, 0.11 - 0.26 ng.g¹ for lindane, 0.56- 3.36 ng.g¹ for heptachlor, 0.2- 1.51 ng.g¹ for P,P' DDE, 0.18- 2.91 ng.g¹ for P,P' DDD, 0.11 - 3.12 ng.g¹ for P,P' DDT. These results reveal that the sediments along coast of Chittagong are slightly contaminated with some of these organochlorine insecticides

Begum, J.

Khan, Y.S.A.

Talukder, A.B.M.A.

Aquatic Commons

Pakistan Journal of Marine Sciences, VoL8(1), 21-27, 1999. 
ORGANOCHLORINE INSECTICIDE RESIDUES IN SEDIMENTS 
FROM THE COAST OF CIDTTAGONG, BANGLADESH 
A. B. M. Alauddin Talukder, Dr. Yusuf Sharif Ahmed Khan 
and Jahanara Begum 
Institute of Marine Sciences, University of Chittagong, 
Chittagong, Bangladesh. (ABMAT, DYSAK); Institute of Food and Radiation Biology, 
Atomic Energy Research Establishment, Savar, Dhaka, Bangladesh. (JB) 
ABSTRACT: A total of 5 samples of marine sediments were analyzed for residUtes of 
organochlorine insecticide from the coast of Chittagong, Bangladesh. The analytical method 
consisted of 3 phases, extraction, dean-Utp and, analysis throUtgh Gas Chromatography (GC) with 
Electron Capmre Detector (ECD). The concentration ranges were as follows 0.18- 1.33 ng.g' for 
aldrin, 0.2 - 1.84 ng.g' for dielddrin, 0.30 - 1.31 ng.g' for endrin, 0.11 - 0.26 ng.g• for lindane, 
0.56- 3.36 ng.g• for heptachlor, 0.2- 1.51 ng.g·• for P,P' DDE, 0.18- 2.91 ng.g' for P,P' DDD, 
0.11 - 3.12 ng.g·• for P,P' DDT. These resUtlts reveal that the sediments along coast of Chittagong 
are slightly contaminated with some of these organochlorine insecticides. 
KEY WORDS: Organochlorine insecticides, sediments, coast of Chittagong, Bangladesh. 
INTRODUCTION 
Organochlorine insecticides are of environmental interest because of their proven 
toxicity to human beings, animals and plants. Although developed countries have already 
banned or heavily restricted the use of these insecticides, most of these compounds are 
still in use in underdeveloped countries (Anon, 1989). In Bangladesh, about 6,537 metric 
tons of formulated insecticides and acaricides are used annually for agriculrural purposes 
(APB, 1992). Organochlorine pesticides comprise nearly 7.6% of the total insecticides in 
use (Rahman et al., 1995). 
Many researchers have emphasized the importance of coastal environments as a 
:reservoir of persistent organochlorines (Goldberg et al., 1978). Jalees and Vemuri (1980) 
estimated that at least 5% of the insecticides used for agricultural and vector control 
purposes are expected to reach the coastal waters. Based on this assumption, it is 
expected that the amount of insecticide and acaricide load along the coast of Bangladesh 
may be about 326.85 metric tons. 
No monitoring system for pesticides used in various sectors has been developed yet 
in Bangladesh. As such, no data concerning the residue level of organochlorine 
insecticides in marine sediments from the coast of Bangladesh are avmlable. Hence, the 
main purpose of the present srudy was to determine the residue level of organochlorine 
insecticides in the sediments of the Kamafully River mouth upto Kurubdia channel of the 
Bay of BengaL 
MATERIALS AND METHODS 
Area of study: 
Kamafully, the most important river of Chittagong District, originates from the lofty 
22 Pakistan Journal of Marine Sciences, Vol.8(1), 1999. 
ranges of Lusai Hills of Assam in India and enters-the district of Chittagong from the 
north-eastern side. The total length of the Karnafully River is about 170 miles. The study 
area represents a great interest, because the rivers Karnafully and Sangu during their 
course to the Bay of Bengal receives agricultural wastes and untreated effluents of 
pesticide manufacturing plants. 
Samples: 
Surface sediment samples were collected from the 5 stations (Fig. 1) during a cruise 
with a Landing Craft Tank (LCT) of the Bangladesh Navy (March, 1994) using an 
Ekman grab sampler. Samples were sealed in precleaned glass jars and transferred to the 
Institute of Food and Radiation Biology (IFRB), Atomic Energy Research Establishment 
(AERE), Dhaka for extracting and subsequent analysis. 
Chemicals and Reagents: 
Chemicals and reagents used were diethylethr, hexane and acetone all of pesticides 
grade. Prior to use, hexane was double distilled by a Glass apparatus at 69oC. Anhydrous 
sodium sulfate and Florisil (mesh 60-100/PR) were used in this investigation. 
90' 
&YOF 
BENGAL 
BAY 
OF 
BENGAL 
92' 
CMU:agong City Corporatlon 
Drt~lnage 
10 • 
Kuhilidta 
Island 
Agricultural land nnd 
Fishermen village 
Fig. 1. Location of the study area and sampling stations. 
23' 
22' 
Talukder et al.: Organochlorine insecticide residues in sediments. 23 
Extraction and Cleanup: 
Samples were prepared for Organochlorine insecticides analysis according to 
previously described methods (Caricchia et al., 1993). The extracts were concentrated in 
a rotary vacuum evaporator (Type 390) and transferred quantitatively in a conical flask. 
Florisil 60-100 mesh was activated by heating in a oven at 130°C for 6 hrs and 
cooled in a dessicato. The freshly activated florisil was then partly deactivated by drop 
wise addition of distilled water (3%V/W, water/ florisil) at 40oC with constant stirring for 
1 hr. The column was eluted with 150 ml of 2% diethylether in hexane at a flow rate of 
1-2 drops per second (5 ml min·'). 
Operating conditioning of GC: 
The Gas Chromatograph (UP - 4500) was equipped with an ECD and a Pyrex glass 
column of 1.5 m long, 2 mm i-d, packed with 1.5% or-17 +1.95% OF on 100-120 mesh 
chromosorb were used for organochlorine insecticides. A data handling computing 
integrator (PU-4815) was used for data graphics and reports. 
Analytical condition of GC: 
Nitrogen gas was used as a carrier gas at a flow rate of 25 ml min·'. Temperature 
during ECD mode was 224°C at the detector, 211 oc at the injector, 201 OC at the column. 
The running time for the whole chromatogram was 35 min. The injection volume of the 
extract was 0.5 fll and the attenuation of the integrator was 32. 
Identification and quantification: 
Identification and quantification was done from based on the retention time in the 
GC with respect to a standard solution of organochlorine insecticides which were 
prepared from individual pure compounds, purchased from Chromopack, Middleburge, 
UK. The concentration of each compounds were calculated from the peak area with 
respect to the standard peak area. 
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 
Organochlorine insecticides namely Aldrin, Dieldrin, Endrin, Lindane, Heptachlor, 
DDt and its metabolites were determined from the five station located in the Chittagong 
coast. Table-1 represents the residue data of organochlorine insecticides in sediment 
samples. Standard chromatogram versus chromatogram of sediment samples are 
presented in figure 2. DDT was significantly higher then other organochlorine 
insecticides at all the stations and the concentration were in the order of I.DDT> 
Heptachlor> Dieldrin> Endrin> Aldrin> Lindane. Among the metabolities of DDT, the 
concentration of P,P' DDT was the most abundant P,P' DDE is a degradation product of 
P,P' DDT, that can be formed either by natural UV- irradiation or by metabolism of 
organisms (Sanchez et al., 1992). In the present investigation, the concentration of DDT 
metabolities ranged from 0.49 to 7.14 ng.g·•. Similar findings were reported in the 
sediments of the San francisco Bay by the National Status and Trends program of NOAA 
(1987) and by Pereira et al., (1994). In the Mediterranean coast, the values of DDT 
ranges between 0.4 and 200 ng.g·• (UNEP, FAO, WHO, IAEA, 1989) which is higher 
24 Pakistan Journal ofMarine Sciences, VoL8(1), 1999. 
Table 1. Organochlorine insecticide residues in marine sediments from the 5 
stations located in the- Chittagong coast, Bangladesh (values in ng.g1) 
Compounds 
Aldrin 
Dieldrin 
Endrin 
Lindane 
Heptachlor 
P,P'DDE 
P,P'DDD 
P,P'DDT 
2:DDT 
ND = Not Detected 
7 
ST.2 
1.33 
1.84 
0.95 
0.21 
3.36 
1.51 
1.09 
2.98 
5.58 
1\brine se<limeni 
smmpling sl:alion 7 
River sedimeni 
smmpling st:ation 2 
5 
Sampling stations 
St. 6 St. 7 
0.57 0.94 
1.16 1.54 
0.94 1.31 
0.26 0.16 
0.56 ND 
0.83 1.11 
0.94 2.91 
1.54 3.12 
3.31 7.14 
2 
2 
ST.10 St. 11 
ND 
0.92 
0.30 
0.11 
ND 
0.54 
0.69 
1.05 
2.28 
4 5 6 7 
0.18 
0.20 
ND 
ND 
ND 
0.20 
0.18 
0.11 
0.49 
Simnli:unl 
mbiunor 
~i~:hl "'!:"". 
-<>chlorine 
ln•edld<les 
Marine sediment 
samplh•l siailon 6 
7 
Fig. 2. Cromatograms of organochlorine insecticides (standard mixture of eight 
organochlorine insecticides, 1-Lindane, 2-Heptachlor, 3-Aldrin, 4-P,P DDE, 5-
Dieldrin, 6-Endrin, 7-P,P DDD, 8-P,P DDT) and sediment samples at stations 
2, 6, 7 (comparison). 
Tallukder et al.: Organochlorine insecticide residues in sediments. 25 
than the values recorded in the present study. Table-2 represents a comparison of the 
concentration of organochlorine insecticides in sediments found in this study and the 
published values within marine sediments from various locations. 
Table 2. Comparison of detected values of organochlorine insecticides in different 
locality (values in ng.g1). 
Locality P,P' P.P' P,P' I.DDT Dieldrin Aldrin Endrin Lindane Heptachlor 
DDE DDD DDT 
l£ndian 7.4-179.1 0.5 0.01-0.5 0.01-0.21 
Ocean (1992) 
Coast of 0.23 0.7 0.05 0.35 0.001 0.001 
Alicante, Spain, 
(1992) 
San francisco 3.9 1.9 3.2 9.0 
Bay 
Delta estuary, 
(1994) 
Manukau 0.5 0.3 0.1 0.9 0.5 0.53 0.1 0.1 
harbour, 
New Zealand, 
(1988) 
Chittagong 0.2-1.51 0.18-2.91 O.ll-3.12 0.49-7.14 0.2-1.84 0.18-1.33 0.30-1.31 0.11-0.26 0.56-3.36 
coast, 
Bangladesh, 
(Present study) 
The sources that contribute organochlorine insecticides to the sediments are 
presumably contaminated runoff form agriculturall areas in the upper reaches of the river 
or atmospheric deposition. The same view has been expressed by Pereira et al., (1994) 
and Sarker and Sengupta (1991 ). Variations in the residue levels of different 
organochlorine pesticides along the coastal region can be attributed to variations in 
physico-chemical properties of coastal waters and biogenic matter influencing the 
degradation of the pesticides (Sarkar and Sen Gupta, 1986; Sarkar and Banerjee, 1987). 
The usages of chlorinated pesticides in crop production and in public health 
practices are banned or restricted in developed nations (Rajendran et al., 1992) but are 
still in use in Bangladesh (Rahman et al., 1995). A report of Showier (1989) states that 
old organochlorine stocks including Toxaphene and Heptachlor are stiU being employed 
for agricultural purposes in Bangladesh. A DDT manufacturing plant near Barabkunda, 
Chiuagong is stiH producing WOO tons of DDT daily (IUCN, 1991). The effluents of this 
plant are dumped into aquatic and this also represents a point source of DDT within the 
coastal environment. 
The annual consumption of insecticides comprise 96.67% fungicides, 1.47% 
wedicides and others 0.7% of which include acaricides, rodenticides etc. (Rahman et al., 
1995). A large quantity of these organochlorine insecticides have been added to dry fish 
for preservation from insect attack since early 1980 indicating their popular use. 
26 Pakistan Journal of Marine Sciences, Vol.8(1), 1999. 
The residue levels of organochlorines in sediments may become significant in 
future, because of the continuing use of these persistent chemicals in agriculture, public 
health and .industry. So a restriction must be imposed on the uses of organochlorine 
insecticides to prevent future adverse impact on coastal environment. Further monitoring 
of organochlorine insecticides residues in sediment samples would give a better picture 
of the level of contamination. 
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 
This study is a record of research work done by one of the authors (A. B. M. 
Alauddin Talukder) during the period of M. Sc. course at the INstitute of Marine 
Sciences, University of Chittagong, Bangladesh. Great appreciation and sincere thanks 
are extended to Bangladesh Navy for their assistance in collecting the sediment samples. 
We are indebted to Mr. M. A. Matin (Director of IFRB, AERA, Dhaka), for providing 
instrumental facilities for this work. 
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Organochlorine insecticide residues in sediments from the coast of Chittagong, Bangladesh

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Organochlorine insecticide residues in sediments from the coast of Chittagong, Bangladesh

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