Four-year population exposure study: Implications for the effectiveness of e-waste control and biomarkers of e-waste pollution

Construction of Models To Predict the Effectiveness of E-Waste Control through Capture of Volatile Organic Compounds and Metals/Metalloids Exposure Fingerprints: A Six-Year Longitudinal Study

“…Human exposure to various pollutants has been linked to elevated 8-OHdG levels. 6,18,22,34,35 We found that most urinary mVOCs and MeTs were significantly and positively associated with urinary 8-OHdG (Table S5). Given that oxidative stress is often the primary effect of pollutant exposure, 36 8-OHdG can be used as a comprehensive indicator to evaluate the total exposure risks of VOCs and MeTs.…”

“…Interestingly, we observed a significant declining trend in the 8-OHdG level in ER children after ewaste control (Figure 3A), which was consistent with a previous four-year population exposure biomonitoring study in ER. 6 In the QG-C analyses, each one joint exposure quantile increase in the pollutants-elevated and pollutants-declined groups was significantly associated with a 0.55 and 0.83 increase in 8-OHdG levels, respectively (Figure 3B). In the WQS regression analyses, each unit increase in the pollutantselevated and pollutants-declined groups was significantly associated with a 0.67 (95% CI: 0.53−0.81) and 0.82 (95% CI: 0.67−0.98) increase in 8-OHdG levels, respectively (Figure 3C).…”

“…Children were selected as the focus of our study because of their heightened susceptibility to pollutant exposure. 6,21,25 A total of 918 children, primarily between the ages of 5 and 13 years, were enrolled from Guiyu ER. This included 78, 167, and 673 children in 2016−2017, 2018−2019, and 2021, respectively.…”

“…The sampling sizes increased annually with the elevated trust of residents. 6 All enrolled children provided signed informed consent and completed a questionnaire, including gender, age, weight, height, years of residency, passive smoking, maternal education level, maternal occupation, and paternal occupation. Morning urine was collected from each child to determine the urinary creatinine level using the Jaffe method.…”

“…Other studies also found that organic pollutants, such as PAHs and halogenated flame retardants declined more significantly than MeTs did. 6,9 For example, levels of nine polychlorinated biphenyls and seven polybrominated diphenyl ethers in the hair of adults from the Longtang ER decreased by approximately 100-and 12-fold, respectively, between 2009 and 2019. 9 In the Guiyu ER, the GM levels of urinary ten PAH metabolites in adults decreased by 10.4−67.3% after four years of e-waste control; however, the levels of urinary eight metals (i.e., Mn, Co, Ni, Cu, Mo, Cd, Ba, and Pb) did not decline as expected except for those of Cr and Sn.…”