A method for the determination of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB) in breast milk was developed and applied to evaluate the contamination of samples that proceed from four Brazilian cities. PCB were extracted by Solid-Phase Microextraction and analyzed by Gas Chromatography with Electron Capture Detector. The figures of merit studied were linearity (to 16 µg L-1, r > 0.9884), precision (RSD < 12%, n = 5), recovery (71 to 127%) and limit of quantification (between 0.45 and 2.42 µg L-1). The analysis of the twenty samples revealed PCB levels above 11.8 µg L-1 in São Paulo metropolitan area being the PCB 153 found in all these samples. In Vitória/ES and Florianopolis/SC were found PCB in 100 and 60% of the samples, respectively. No contamination was detected in the samples from Rio Branco/AC. Thus, a high correlation between the contamination of these samples and the level of industrialization of the region was found.
PCB; HS-SPME; validation; breast milk; contamination
