Chlordecone

Chlordecone, also known as Kepone, is a carcinogenic insecticide related to Mirex, and was used between 1966 and 1975 to control ants and roaches. Its use was banned in 1975. In 2009 was included in the Stockholm Convention on persistent organic pollutants, which bans its production and use worldwide. Chemically, kepone is a chlorinated polycyclic ketone insecticide and fungicide with the chemical formula C10Cl10O. The dry powder is readily absorbed through the skin and respiratory tract.

Chlordecone, also known as Kepone, is a carcinogenic insecticide related to Mirex, and was used between 1966 and 1975 to control ants and roaches.

Chlordecone was used as an insecticide and as a base material in the manufacture of the insecticide kelevan. Recently, the use of chlordecone has become increasingly restricted, and it has been banned in several countries. Chlordecone has been used extensively in the tropics for the control of banana root borer. It is regarded as an effective insecticide against leaf-cutting insects, but less effective against sucking insects. It can be used as a fly larvicide, as a fungicide against apple scab and powdery mildew, and to control the Colorado potato beetle, rust mite on non-bearing citrus, and potato and tobacco wireworm on gladioliand other plants.

Chlordecone presents a major hazard for aquatic ecosystems because of its stability and persistence in sediments, its bioaccumulation in food chains, and its acute and chronic toxicity.

Chlordecone is an extremely persistent organochlorine insecticide, that bioaccumulates massively in aquatic food-chains. Adverse effects on the organisms studied indicate that it presents a long-term hazard for the environment. The environmental hazard posed by chlordecone is associated with its stability and persistence in sediments, which provide a long-term source of contamination, together with its massive bioaccumulation in aquatic food chains. One of the largest reserves of chlordecone in food is found in the edible portion of contaminated fish. Although chlordecone is only slightly soluble in water, levels of between 0.35 and 1 µg/litre are sufficient to reduce algal growth, thereby affecting productivity at other trophic levels. Chlordecone is acutely and chronically toxic for aquatic invertebrates and causes loss of equilibrium, reduction in reproductive success, and decreased shell growth at sublethal concentrations. Reduction in mysid populations due to low-level chlordecone contamination has important consequences for fish productivity. Symptoms of exposure range from diminished activity and emaciation to abnormal development and death. The few data available indicate that chlordecone is not acutely toxic for terrestrial invertebrates. Subacute doses of chlordecone induce significant toxic effects in birds including tremors, liver damage, and reproductive failure.

Chronic exposure to chlordecone have shown harmful effects on skin, the nervous system, liver, and male reproductive system. The Department of the Health and Human Services has determined that chlordecone "may reasonably be anticapted" to be a Carcinogens. Exposure of the general population through the normal use of chlordecone can be regarded as minimal and is mainly related to residues in food.

Gas chromatography with electron capture detection is the method most widely used for the determination of chlordecone.

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