After World War II, thousands of tons of highly toxic chemical warfare agents (CWA) were deposited in the Baltic Sea, the main dumping site locating in the Bornholm Basin. In the present study, Baltic mussels (Mytilus trossulus) were transplanted in the area in cages at two hotspot sites and a reference site at the depths of 35 and 65 m for 2.5 months to study bioaccumulation and biological effects of CWA possibly leaking from the corroding warfare materials. No traces of degradation products of the measured phenylarsenic CWA could be detected in the tissues of mussels. Nevertheless, several biochemical and histochemical biomarkers, geno- and cytotoxicity indicators, and bioenergetic parameters showed significant responses. The Integrated Biomarker Index calculated from the single biomarkers also showed a higher total response at the two hotspot areas compared to the reference site. Although no direct evidence could be obtained confirming the responses being caused specifically by exposure to CWA, the field exposure experiment showed unambiguously that organisms in this sea area are confronting environmental stress affecting negatively their health and this is likely related to chemical contamination, which is possibly connected to the sea-dumped CWA.

第二次世界大战后，数千吨的剧毒化学战剂（CWA）被沉积在波罗的海，而波罗的海的主要倾倒地点位于博恩霍尔姆盆地。在本研究中，波罗的海贻贝（Mytilus trossulus）分别在35个和65 m深度的两个热点站点和一个参考站点的笼子区域中进行了2.5个月的移植，以研究可能从腐蚀作战材料中泄漏的CWA的生物积累和生物学效应。在贻贝的组织中未检测到痕量苯基砷CWA的降解产物。然而，一些生化和组织化学生物标志物，基因和细胞毒性指标以及生物能参数显示出显着的反应。从单个生物标记物计算出的综合生物标记物指数与参考点相比，在两个热点区域也显示出更高的总响应。尽管无法获得直接的证据来确认响应是由暴露于CWA引起的，