Human Exposure to Legacy and Emerging Halogenated Flame Retardants via Inhalation and Dust Ingestion in a Norwegian Cohort

Abstract

In this study, we estimated human exposure to polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), hexabromocyclododecanes (HBCDDs), and several emerging flame retardants (EFRs) via inhalation and dust ingestion. Sixty indoor stationary air samples, 13 personal air samples, and 60 settled dust samples were collected from a Norwegian cohort during winter 2013. PBDEs showed the highest median concentration in dust (1200 ng/g), followed by EFRs (730 ng/g) and HBCDDs (190 ng/g). The PBDE concentrations in dust were mainly driven by BDE-209 and those of EFRs by bis(2-ethylhexyl) tetrabromophthalate. EFRs predominated in stationary air samples, with 2-ethylhexyl 2,3,4,5-tetrabromobenzoate and 4-(1,2-dibromoethyl)-1,2-dibromocyclohexane having the highest median concentrations (150 and 25 pg/m (sum of α- and β-isomers), respectively). Different profiles and concentrations were observed in personal air samples compared to the corresponding stationary air samples. In relation to inhalation exposure, dust ingestion appears to be the major exposure pathway to FRs (median total exposure 230 pg/kg bw/d, accounting for more than 65% of the total exposure) for the Norwegian cohort. The calculated exposure due to air inhalation was substantially lower when the stationary air concentrations were used rather than personal air concentrations (43 pg/kg bw/d versus 130 pg/kg bw/d). This suggests that other exposure situations (such as outdoors or in offices) contributed significantly to the overall personal exposure, which cannot be included by using only a stationary air sampling technique. The median and 95th percentile exposures for all target FRs did not exceed the reference dose.

Novel brominated flame retardants in house dust from Shanghai, China: levels, temporal variation, and human exposure

“…Compared with the international studies, the median level of DBDPE in this study (185.4 ng/g) was an order of magnitude lower than that in Swedish indoor dust (1700 ng/g) [47]. However, the median concentration of DBDPE in USA [25], UK [29] and Norway [31] was 2.2, 2.1 and 2.6 times lower than that in this study. The levels of DBDPE in house dust detected from different countries varied in two orders of magnitude; DBDPE concentrations in this study were generally moderate, while DBDPE in house dust from Sweden [47] and Spain [33] exhibited elevated concentrations ( Fig.…”

“…In this study, the full detection frequency of BTBPE indicates the extensive use of this emerging compound in indoor environment. The median level of BTBPE (14.49 ng/g) was very comparable to that in USA [25], UK [29], and Pakistan [39], but was three-to-five times lower than reported levels in Norway [31] and Spain [33]. As a whole, the concentrations of BTBPE presented in this study were of middle level compared with the international studies ( Fig.…”

“…Recently, the occurrences of NBFRs have been increasingly investigated in indoor dust from various countries, including USA [25,26], Canada [27], UK [17,28,29], Belgium [30], Norway [31,32], Spain [33], Sweden [34,35], Australia [13], New Zealand [1], China [36][37][38], Pakistan [39], and South Africa [40]. In China, EHTBB, BEHTEBP, BTBPE, and DBDPE were frequently detected in indoor dust samples from e-waste sites in South China [37] and occupational areas in Beijing [38,41].…”

Temporal trends of decabromodiphenyl ether and emerging brominated flame retardants in dust, air and window surfaces of newly built low‐energy preschools

“…The dust concentrations found in the preschools were lower compared to most other recent studies on BFRs in different indoor settings (Table 2). 18,19,22,23,[45][46][47] This could be due to the diverse indoor settings among the different studies, as well as the different age of the inves- The DFs and concentrations of BFRs in the indoor air in our study were low, as previously discussed (Table 1). However, αDBE-DBCH and βDBE-DBCH were frequently detected in LEP C with a maximum concentration of 8400 pg/m 3 and 18 000 pg/m 3 , respectively.…”

“…This skewed the GM and arithmetic mean (AM) since non-detects were replaced with half their MDL values and the GM and AM were found to be consistently higher in our study compared to other studies reporting on BFRs in indoor air, see Table 2. 19,23,[46][47][48] Studies of BFRs on window surfaces are to date very scarce (Table 2). However, a recent study from the Czech Republic found DBE-DBCH and TBCO isomers, PBT and TBP-DBPE on window surfaces in home environments at higher concentrations compared to our results.…”