Perfluorooctanesulfonate and related fluorinated hydrocarbons in marine mammals, fishes, and birds from coasts of the Baltic and the Mediterranean Seas.

Perfluorooctanesulfonate (PFOS; C8F17SO3-), perfluorooctanesulfonamide (FOSA; C8F17SO2NH2), perfluorohexanesulfonate (PFHxS; C6F13SO3-), and perfluorooctanoate (PFOA; C7F15CO2-) were detected in 175 samples of liver and blood of bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus), swordfish (Xiphias gladius), common cormorants (Phalacrocorax carbo), bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus), striped dolphins (Stenella coeruleoalba), common dolphins (Delphinus delphi), fin whales (Balenoptera physalus), and long-finned pilot whales (Globicephala melas) from the Italian coast of the Mediterranean Sea and in livers of ringed seals (Phoca hispida), gray seals (Halichoerus grypus), white-tailed sea eagles (Haliaeetus albicilla), and Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) from coastal areas of the Baltic Sea. PFOS was detected in all of the wildlife species analyzed. Concentrations of PFOS in blood decreased in order of bottlenose dolphins > bluefin tuna > swordfish.

Mercury in mushrooms and soil of the Tarnobrzeska Plain, south-eastern Poland.

Mercury was quantified in the fruiting bodies of 15 species of higher mushrooms and underlying soil substrate collected from the Tarnobrzeska Plain in south-eastern part of Poland in 1995. In total, 405 samples each of caps, stalks or whole fruiting bodies and 221 samples of soil (0 10cm layer) were examined. The area under investigation can be considered generally as unpolluted with mercury since the mean concentrations in underlying soil substrate of 14 mushroom species were between 21 +/- 9 and 58 +/- 31 ng/g dry wt.