Egg sampling for POPs: Contamination of chicken eggs near the hazardous waste incinerator in Izmit, Turkey by dioxins, PCBs and hexachlorobenzene.
Free-range chicken eggs collected near the Izaydas hazardous waste incinerator in Izmit showed levels of dioxins exceeding EU limits for chicken eggs and elevated levels of HCB. The dioxin levels in eggs exceeded background levels by almost 2-fold. HCB levels were five times higher than background levels. To our knowledge, this study represents the first data about unintentional-POPs in chicken eggs from Turkey. The most obvious potential source of POPs releases at the site is the waste incinerator burning different types of hazardous wastes. The incinerator has operated illegally or under a temporary permit for long time until 2002, when it got the permit after having few upgrades to cover the demands of the Ministry of Environment. Its permit needs to be renewed this year again as the hazardous wastes directive has changed recently in Turkey.