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Science 26 November 1976:
Vol. 194. no. 4268, pp. 939 - 941
DOI: 10.1126/science.62396
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Articles

Science, Vol 194, Issue 4268, 939-941
Copyright © 1976 by American Association for the Advancement of Science

articles

Mirex in the environment: its degradation to kepone and related compounds

DA Carlson, KD Konyha, WB Wheeler, GP Marshall, and RG Zaylskie

The chlorocarbon mirex undergoes slow, successive loss of chlorine in the field to a series of related compounds that had lost one or more chlorine atoms. Soil samples were recovered 12 years after treatment at 1 part per million (ppm), and ant bait was recovered 5 years after an aircraft crash. As much as 50 percent of the original mirex was recovered at levels of about 0.5 and 640 ppm, respectively. Kepone was present at levels of 0.02 ppm in soil and 10 ppm in the bait or up to 10 percent of the recovered mirex, as determined by combined techniques of chromatography and mass spectrometry. This constitutes the first observation of the degradation of mirex in nature, and demonstrates a pathway for its eventual disappearance from the environment.


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Atsdr Evaluation of Health Effects of Chemicals: II. Mirex and Chlordecone: Health Effects, Toxicokinetics, Human Exposure, and Environmental Fate.
O. Faroon, S. Kueberuwa, L. Smith, and C. Derosa (1995)
Toxicology and Industrial Health 11, 1-195
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