Expanding the number of phthalates monitored in house dust

Abstract

Phthalates have been used as plasticisers for several decades in various industry and consumer products. A method was developed for the determination of 13 not commonly monitored phthalates in household dust. The method was based on solvent extraction using sonication, sample clean-up by solid phase extraction (SPE), and analysis using isotope dilution gas chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (GC/MS/MS). The method was applied to the analysis of dust samples collected using two vacuum sampling techniques from 38 urban Canadian homes: a sample of fresh or 'active' dust (FD) collected by technicians and a composite sample taken from the household vacuum cleaner (HD). Spearman rank correlations between HD and FD samples were significant for six phthalates with median concentrations above their method detection limits (MDLs), suggesting that the HD samples provide comparable results with FD samples. Seven phthalates were detected and quantified in a Canada-wide set of 126 household dust samples, among which six phthalates were detected at frequencies higher than 87%, with median (range) concentrations of 1.9 (<0.42-240) (μg/g) for diisohexyl phthalate (DIHxP), 3.8 (<0.16-260) (μg/g) for di-n-heptyl phthalate (DHepP), 6.6 (<1.1-1170) (μg/g) for diisooctyl phthalate (DIOP), 1.1 (<0.12-390) (μg/g) for di-n-octyl phthalate (DOP), 6.3 (<0.16-430) (μg/g) for dinonyl phthalate (DNP), and 1.8 (<0.18-850) (μg/g) for din-decyl phthalate (DDP). High detection frequencies and widely scattered concentration levels of these phthalates in this preliminary set of 126 samples suggested a high variability in potential exposure to phthalates in Canadian homes. NIST SRM 2585 (organic contaminants in house dust) was also analysed; eight phthalates were detected, with concentrations ranging from 6.0 μg/g for DOP to 79 μg/g for DIHxP. The results from SRM 2585 may contribute to the certification of phthalate concentration values in this SRM. ARTICLE HISTORY

Determination of Total Mercury and Carbon in a National Baseline Study of Urban House Dust

“…Furthermore, there was no significant difference between the geomean values (Student's ttest p = 0.3886) of the HD and FD datasets. These observations are consistent with previous studies of synthetic organics in dust (e.g., musks, phthalates, organophosphate esters, bisphenol A,) which reported significant correlations for most compounds determined in matched HD and FD samples [49][50][51][52]. Similarly, Rasmussen et al [53] reported significant positive correlations (p < 0.001) between concentrations measured in matched HD and FD samples for 17 metals, with moderate to strong Spearman rho values (0.40-0.76).…”

Rare earth elements and select actinoids in the Canadian House Dust Study

“…17 The HD>FD trend observed for REEs is the reverse of trends observed for many organic compounds in the CHDS (eg, parabens, synthetic musks, alklyphenols, phthalates, and organophosphate esters). [20][21][22][23][24][25][26] For those organic compounds which displayed a significant difference in FD compared to HD samples, the majority showed FD>HD, probably caused by losses due to volatilization and/ or decomposition during the longer residence time in the household vacuum system. 26…”

“…4,12 The 1025 participating homes in the Canadian House Dust Study (CHDS) were randomly sampled from 13 cities, and previous CHDS papers reported national baseline data for arsenic (As), cadmium (Cd), cobalt (Co), chromium (Cr), copper (Cu), lead (Pb), nickel (Ni), zinc (Zn), and selenium (Se), [17][18][19] plus many organic compounds including flame retardants, phthalates, BPA, parabens, and musks. [20][21][22][23][24][25][26] Technicians followed a vacuum sampling protocol designed to collect a consistent composite (whole-house) sample of readily accessible "fresh dust" of known age, from dry floor surfaces of known dimensions, which yielded measurements of both elemental concentration and elemental loading.…”

Relationships between House Characteristics and Exposures to Metal(loid)s and Synthetic Organic Contaminants Evaluated Using Settled Indoor Dust

“…Data summaries for all of the substances included in this paper are provided in the Supplementary Information (SI-6 to SI-16) , and details of the analytical methods were published previously. Analytical approaches were developed or optimized, in Health Canada laboratories, to provide quantitative determinations of the synthetic organic compounds [ 43 , 44 , 45 , 46 , 48 , 49 , 50 , 51 , 52 , 54 ]. Total element concentrations were determined using Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP–MS), Inductively Coupled Plasma Optical Emission Spectrometry (ICP-OES), Instrumental Neutron Activation Analysis (INAA), or (in the case of mercury) direct solid sample analysis using atomic absorption spectrometry [ 17 , 22 , 47 , 55 ].…”

“…Composite (whole-house) vacuum dust samples were collected from 13 cities during the winter season of 2007 to 2010 (incl.) and analysed quantitatively for organic and inorganic contaminants [ 17 , 22 , 39 , 43 , 44 , 45 , 46 , 47 , 48 , 49 , 50 , 51 , 52 , 53 , 54 , 55 ]. This study uses Spearman rank analysis to identify relationships between house characteristics and 59 elements (metals and metalloids), and >200 synthetic organics, including phthalates; bisphenol A (BPA) and BPA analogues; organophosphate esters (OPEs); halogenated flame retardants including polybrominated diphenyl ethers (BDEs); octylphenol and nonylphenol ethoxylates; aryl and alkyl-aryl phosphates; bactericides (parabens); pesticides (e.g., permethrin, organochlorines); and synthetic musks.…”