Remarkable Contamination of Short- and Medium-Chain Chlorinated Paraffins in Free-Range Chicken Eggs from Rural Tibetan Plateau

Abstract

Rapid social-economic development introduces modern lifestyles into rural areas, not only bringing numerous modern products but also new pollutants, such as chlorinated paraffins (CPs). The rural Tibetan Plateau has limited industrial activities and is a unique place to investigate this issue. Herein we collected 90 free-range chicken egg pool samples across the rural Tibetan Plateau to evaluate the pollution status of CPs. Meanwhile, CPs in related soils, free-range chicken eggs from Jiangxi, and farmed eggs from markets were also analyzed. The median concentrations of SCCPs (159 ng g −1 wet weight (ww)) and MCCPs (1390 ng g −1 ww) in Tibetan free-range chicken eggs were comparable to those from Jiangxi (259 and 938 ng g −1 ww) and significantly higher than those in farmed eggs (22.0 and 81.7 ng g −1 ww). In the rural Tibetan Plateau, the median EDI of CPs via egg consumption by adults and children were estimated to be 81.6 and 220.2 ng kg −1 bw day −1 for SCCPs and 483.4 and 1291 ng kg −1 bw day −1 for MCCPs, respectively. MCCPs might pose potential health risks for both adults and children in the worst scenario. Our study demonstrates that new pollutants should not be ignored and need further attention in remote rural areas.