Citation

Tang S, Tan H, Liu X, Chen D. Sci. Total Environ. 2018; 656: 1-8.

Affiliation

School of Environment and Guangdong Key Laboratory of Environmental Pollution and Health, Jinan University, Guangzhou 510632, China. Electronic address: dachen@jnu.edu.cn.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2018, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.11.369

PMID

30502730

Abstract

The present study investigated the occurrence of legacy and alternative halogenated flame retardants (FRs) in house dust (n = 51) from Guangzhou, South China and hand wipes collected from adults (n = 51) and children (n = 31). In addition to polybrominated diphenyl ether (PBDE) congeners (particularly BDE-209), several alternative FRs were also detected in >60% of dust samples, including decabromodiphenylethane (DBDPE; median: 4600 ng/g), bis(2-ethylhexyl)-3,4,5,6-tetrabromo-phthalate (BEH-TEBP; 43.9 ng/g), 1,2-bis(2,4,6-tribormophenoxy)ethane (BTBPE; 9.2 ng/g), pentabromotoluene (PBT; 10.1 ng/g), and syn- and anti-dechlorane plus (DPs, 24.5 ng/g). BDE-47, BDE-209, DBDPE, BEH-TEBP, and DPs were also frequently detected on hand wipes from children (median mass: 0.1-1.1 ng) and adults (0.1-1.2 ng). Linear regression models suggest that dust concentrations of BDE-47 and DPs had significant or marginally significant associations with their masses on children's (10^β = 2.82; 95% CI: 1.20, 6.64 and 10^β = 5.57, 95% CI: 1.85, 16.75, respectively) and adults' hands (10^β = 4.46; 95% CI: 0.92, 21.58 and 10^β = 5.11; 95% CI: 1.74, 14.96, respectively), whereas no association was observed for any other FRs. Most of the investigated demographic, environmental, or behavioral factors did not significantly influence the levels of halogenated FRs on human hands. Estimation of human exposure risks via hand-to-mouth contact and dust ingestion indicates that children are subjected to elevated exposure than adults, and the relative importance of the two pathways is chemical-specific.

Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Language: en

Keywords

Exposure estimation; Flame retardant; Hand wipes; House dust