Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) in Marine Mammal Blubber: Results from an Interlaboratory Study

Published

March 20, 2019

Author(s)

Kevin Huncik, John Kucklick, Jared M. Ragland

Abstract

To support NOAA's Marine Mammal Health and Stranding program, NIST Charleston was requested to investigate the feasibility of measuring polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in marine mammal blubber. Marine mammal blubber can possess high (mg/kg) concentrations of persistent organic pollutants that may interfere with measuring PAHs. The major goals for this study are (1) to determine if laboratories can differentiate PAHs from the persistent organic pollutant (POP)-dominated background typically seen in blubber samples and (2) to determine if POPs in blubber can result in false-positive detections of PAHs such as those arising from laboratory contamination. Five samples were distributed; PAH amended and unamended extracts from high and low POP marine mammal blubber, respectively, and a solution amended with individual PAH compounds. Results from this study indicate that PAHs can be measured in marine mammal blubber and differentiated from POPs co-occurring in the sample. Laboratories did not report PAHs in high POP, non-PAH amended blubber extracts indicating that for this study there were few (<10 total) false positive PAH detections.

Citation

NIST Interagency/Internal Report (NISTIR) - 8233

Report Number

8233

NIST Pub Series

NIST Interagency/Internal Report (NISTIR)

Pub Type

NIST Pubs

Download Paper

https://doi.org/10.6028/NIST.IR.8233

Local Download

Keywords

Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons, PAH

Citation

Huncik, K. , Kucklick, J. and Ragland, J. (2019), Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) in Marine Mammal Blubber: Results from an Interlaboratory Study, NIST Interagency/Internal Report (NISTIR), National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD, [online], https://doi.org/10.6028/NIST.IR.8233 (Accessed October 12, 2025)