DDT and HCH Residue Load in Animal’s and Mother’s Milk of Lakhimpur Kheeri (Rural areas), Uttar Pradesh-India

Organochlorine Pesticides (OCPs) such as DDT and HCH, have stable chemical properties and less biodegradability. As a kind of persistent organic pollutants, they have high risk to the environment and human health. Organochlorine pesticide have been used in Uttar Pradesh in agriculture as a seed dresser, in sanitation , in malaria control programme and in livestock to combat ectoparasites. The pesticides applied drift to areas where cattle graze and plant grow. Because of their chemical stability, they accumulate in the lipid-rich tissue of the body. In the body they circulate throughout all compartments and accumulate in adipose fat. Milk can be used as an evaluation index of environmental contamination by these insecticides, although the main objective of this analysis is to monitor the levels of OCPs in animal’s & human’s milk of rural areas.The levels of the DDT and HCH residues in animal’s & human’s milk collected from rural areas having intensive sugarcane, wheat & paddy cultivation in Lakhimpur Kheeri were analysed All samples contained detectable quantities of DDT, HCH and its metabolites. Total HCH residues were high than those of DDT in all the samples. The total concentration of DDT was found lower than the previous studies carried out in India. These results indicate that the overall DDT levels in Lakhimpur Kheeri region is slightly degrading.