 organochlorines are persistent lipophilic compounds that accumulate in inuit people living in circumpolar countries . 
 organochlorines accumulate as a result of the inuits ' large consumption of sea mammal fat ; however , available data are limited to blood lipids , milk fat , and adipose tissue . 
 we report results of organochlorine determination in liver , brain , omental fat , and subcutaneous abdominal fat samples collected from deceased greenlanders between 1992 and 1994 . 
 eleven chlorinated pesticides and 14 polychlorinated biphenyl congeners were measured in tissue lipid extracts by high - resolution gas chromatography with electron capture detection . 
 mean concentrations of polychlorinated biphenyls , 2 , 2'-bis(4-chlorophenyl)-1,1-dichloroethylene , ss - hexachlorocyclohexane , hexachlorobenzene , mirex , trans - nonachlor , and oxychlordane in adipose tissue samples from greenlanders were 3 - 34-fold higher than those measured using the same analytical method in samples from canadians in quebec city , quebec . 
 brain lipids contained lower concentrations of all organochlorines than lipids extracted from other tissues . 
 organochlorine residue levels in lipid extracts from liver , omental fat , and subcutaneous abdominal fat samples were similar , with the exception of ss - hexachlorocyclohexane , which reached a greater concentration in liver lipids than in lipids from both adipose tissues ( 4-fold ; p 
 < 0 . 
 05 ) . 
 comparisons with available international data on adipose tissue levels reveal that the organochlorine body burden in the inuit population of greenland is presently among the highest resulting from environmental exposure.imagesfigure 1 
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