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Occurrence and Safety Evaluation of Antimicrobial Compounds Triclosan and Triclocarban in Water and Fishes of the Multitrophic Niche of River Torsa, India

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Abstract

Personal care product (PCP) chemicals have a greater chance of accumulation in the aquatic environments because of their volume of use. PCPs are biologically active substances that can exert an adverse effect on the ecology and food safety. Information on the status of these substances in Indian open water ecosystems is scarce. In this paper, we report the incidence of two synthetic antimicrobials, triclosan (TCS), including its metabolite methyl-triclosan (Me-TCS) and triclocarban (TCC) in Torsa, a transboundary river flowing through India. In water TCS and TCC were detected at levels exceeding their respective PNEC (Predictive No Effect Concentration). Both the compounds were found to be bioaccumulative in fish. TCS concentration (91.1–589 µg/kg) in fish was higher than that of TCC (29.1–285.5 µg/kg). The accumulation of residues of the biocides varied widely among fishes of different species, ecological niche, and feeding habits. Me-TCS could be detected in fishes and not in water. The environmental hazard quotient of both TCS and TCC in water indicated a moderate risk. However, the health risk analysis revealed that fishes of the river would not pose any direct hazard to human when consumed. This is the first report of the occurrence of these PCP chemicals in a torrential river system of the eastern Himalayan region.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thankfully acknowledge the contribution by Dr. Malay Naskar, Principal Scientist, ICAR-CIFRI for the statistical analysis using R program, Mr. Samir Kumar Paul, former Technical Officer, ICAR-CIFRI for his assistance during field sampling, and Ms. Manisha Bhor, Research Scholar, ICAR-CIFRI for preparing the location map under GIS platform. They are also grateful to the anonymous reviewers who have extensively reviewed the paper and have put forth constructive comments and suggestions.

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  1. Fishery Resource and Environmental Management Division, ICAR-Central Inland Fisheries Research Institute, Barrackpore, Kolkata, 700120, West Bengal, India

    Soma Das Sarkar, Subir Kumar Nag, Kavita Kumari, Keya Saha, Sudarshan Bandyopadhyay, Mohammad Aftabuddin & Basanta Kumar Das

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  1. Soma Das Sarkar
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Correspondence to Subir Kumar Nag.

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Das Sarkar, S., Nag, S.K., Kumari, K. et al. Occurrence and Safety Evaluation of Antimicrobial Compounds Triclosan and Triclocarban in Water and Fishes of the Multitrophic Niche of River Torsa, India. Arch Environ Contam Toxicol 79, 488–499 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00244-020-00785-0

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