Objective: to conduct a survey on blood levels of metals and organochlorine compounds (dioxins and PCBs) among workers of livestock farms, and to identify the factors able to explain the magnitude and variability of the measured concentrations.
Design: exploratory human biomonitoring study.
Setting and participants: a sample of 45 workers from farms (masserie) located in the Province of Taranto was included in the study. The farms, located between 6 and 43 km from the industrial area, are family owned and animals (mainly sheep and goats) are locally reared outdoors. The study subjects have similar eating habits, including food consumption resulting from their production.
Results: manganese concentrations and, to a lesser extent, arsenic, cadmium and lead are in the medium-high range of levels observed in the Italian general population. This study does not identify factors able to explain the variability in the blood levels of metals. The amount of dioxins and PCBs, on the other hand, is strongly associated both with subjects age and the distance of farm from the industrial site.
Conclusion: the results of this survey are suggestive of research hypotheses that need to be confirmed by biomonitoring studies of adequate design and size, in particular the hypothesis that the blood level of dioxins and PCBs decreases with increasing distance from the industrial site. We recommend ad hoc studies to better characterize the exposure of farmers (also associated with agricultural activities), and of the inhabitants of Taranto, to environmental persistent pollutants, also in terms of food matrices locally produced and consumed.