Occupational exposure to polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in workers at companies in the Colombian electricity sector.

Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) comprise a family of 209 congeners that have low electrical conductivity and high thermal resistance due to their physicochemical properties and are thus widely used as dielectric oils, among other applications. Although PCBs are no longer used in dielectric oils in Colombia as of several years ago, electric transformers in Colombia might still contain PCBs, and workers might carry PCBs due to exposure from when they were still used in dielectric fluid. Thus, occupational exposure in Colombia to PCBs was evaluated by determining their concentrations in the blood plasma samples of 115 workers in the electricity sector . The sum of the six PCB indicators was between <LOD and 16.09 µg L-1 (median: <0.10 µg L-1, 95th percentile: 1.30 µg L-1), and the total concentration of PCBs calculated as PCB 138 + 153 + 180 × 1.7 was between <LOD and 3210.17 ng g-1 lipids (median: <7.30 ng g-1 , 95th percentile: 392.79 ng g-1). . One worker dedicated to transformer and capacitor maintenance activities presented a PCB value higher than the biological tolerance level of 15 µg L-1. The findings of the present investigation revealed that workers in the electricity sector face chronic occupational exposure to PCBs; Finally, the results can help to improve health policies related to these contaminants in the country.