Human dietary intake of organohalogen contaminants at e-waste recycling sites in Eastern China

Abstract

This study reports concentrations and human dietary intake of hexabromocyclododecanes (HBCDs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) as well as selected "novel" brominated flame retardants (NBFRs) and organochlorine pesticides, in ten staple food categories. Samples were sourced from areas in Taizhou City, eastern China, where rudimentary recycling and disposal of e-waste is commonplace, as well as from nearby non-e-waste impacted control areas. In most instances, concentrations in foods from e-waste recycling areas exceeded those from control locations. Concentrations of 2-ethylhexyl-2,3,4,5-tetrabromobenzoate (EH-TBB) and bis-(2-ethylhexyl)-3,4,5,6-tetrabromophthalate (BEH-TBP) in samples from e-waste sites were 3.09-62.2ng/g and 0.81-16.3ng/g lipid weight (lw), respectively; exceeding consistently those in foods acquired from control sites by an order of magnitude in many cases. In contrast, while concentrations of HBCD in some foods from e-waste impacted areas exceed those from control locations; concentrations in pork, shrimp, and duck liver are higher in control samples. This highlights the potential significance of non-e-waste sources of HBCD (e.g. building insulation foam) in our study areas. While concentrations of DDT in all foods examined except pork were higher in e-waste impacted samples than controls; our exposure estimates were well below the provisional tolerable daily intake of 0.01mg/kgbw/day derived by the Joint FAO/WHO Meeting on Pesticide Residues. Concentrations of ΣPCBs resulted in exposures (650 and 2340ng/kgbw/day for adults and children respectively) that exceed substantially the Minimal Risk Levels (MRLs) for ΣPCBs of 20ng/kgbw/day derived by the Agency for Toxic Substances & Disease Registry. Moreover, when expressed in terms of dioxin-like toxicity equivalency based on the four dioxin-like PCBs monitored in this study (DL-PCBs) (PCB-105, 118, 156, and 167); concentrations in e-waste impacted foods exceed limits set by the European Union in 6 of the 8 food groups studied and result in dietary exposures for children (10.2pgTEQ/kgbw/day) that exceed the WHO tolerable daily intake of 1-4pgTEQ/kgbw/day.

Phosphate flame retardants and novel brominated flame retardants in home-produced eggs from an e-waste recycling region in China

“…Applying an average body weight (bw) of 70 kg for adults and 12 kg for children (Zheng et al, 2015), the median exposure our target contaminants via egg consumption were estimated ( Table 2). The estimated dietary exposure of BEH-TEBP ranged from 0.03 to 0.09 and 0.20e0.54 ng/ kg bw/day for adults and children, respectively, which were similar with assessment for another e-waste recycling region (0.07 and 0.28 ng/kg bw/day for adults and children) (Labunska et al, 2015). PFR intakes were 0.32e0.52 and 1.89e3.02 ng/kg bw/day for adults and children in e-waste recycling sites, which was slightly higher than PFR intake values in the control site (0.28 and 1.62 ng/kg bw/ day for adults and children, respectively).…”

“…A weak relationship could link e-waste recycling activities with EH-TBB/ BEH-TEBP contamination in free-range chicken eggs. By contrast, if considering approximately 10% lipid content in eggs, Labunska et al (2015) reported higher levels of EH-TBB (average: 4.3 ng/ g lw) and similar levels of BEH-TEBP (average: 1.1 ng/g lw) in poultry eggs from another e-waste recycling area in southern China. Similar to our findings, the concentrations of EH-TBB and BEH-TEBP in their egg samples were only 2e5 times higher than the levels (or LOQ) for control site, while distinctive differences of persistent contaminants, such as PBDEs, hexabromocyclododecane (HBCD) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) could be seen in eggs from e-waste sites and control sites (1e3 orders of magnitude higher in eggs from e-waste sites than control sites) (Labunska et al, 2013(Labunska et al, , 2015Zheng et al, 2012).…”

Habitat- and species-dependent accumulation of organohalogen pollutants in home-produced eggs from an electronic waste recycling site in South China: Levels, profiles, and human dietary exposure

“…Comparison with previous studies reveals that the OHP concentrations obtained in our study were at the high end of values previously reported for OHPs in seabird eggs from Spain, Norway, and the Great Lakes basin (Gauthier et al, 2007;Huber et al, 2015;Muñoz-Arnanz et al, 2011). In some cases, concentrations of OHPs in goose eggs in the present study exceed those found in duck eggs from Taizhou, Zhejiang, another major e-waste recycling site in China (Labunska et al, 2013b(Labunska et al, , 2015 (Table S1). Unexpectedly, the OHP levels (except for SCCPs and TBBPA) for goose eggs from site 2 were generally higher than those from site 1, a phenomenon differing from that observed for chicken eggs, as discussed above.…”

“…Generally, the ranges of OHP concentrations reported here for chicken eggs were one to two orders of magnitude higher than those observed in chicken eggs from the other sites (Covaci et al, 2009;Hu et al, 2011;Labunska et al, 2014Labunska et al, , 2015; however, they were comparable to those observed in chicken eggs collected from Qingyuan (an e-waste recycling region in South China) (Zheng et al, 2012) (Table S1). The OHP (except for SCCPs, TBBPA and HBB) levels in chicken eggs from site 2 were significantly lower than those from site 1 (One-way ANOVA: p < 0.05), an observation which was a priori expected, due to the greater distance between the farm and the e-waste recycling center (Fig.…”

Halogenated Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons in Soil and River Sediment from E-waste Recycling Sites in Vietnam

“…Recycling process included recovery of metals and plastics from E-waste such as discarded computers, TVs, video players, phones, and printers, and from open burning of copper wires [14]. Recycling of E-waste has caused severe environmental contamination by brominated flame retardants (BFRs), such as polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) and hexabromocyclododecanes (HBCDs), which were detected from soil, air, sediment, indoor dust and air, food, and human blood [15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24]. Nevertheless, inappropriate processes such as lowtemperature burning contribute to the formation of other halogenated organic pollutants, such as XPAHs [9], PCDD/ Fs, and PBDD/Fs [25,26].…”