Concentrations of polybromobiphenyls and polybromodiphenyl ethers in home dust: Relevance to socio-economic status and human exposure rate

Abstract

This study reports on the levels of all major polybromobiphenyls (PBBs) and polybromodiphenyl ethers (PBDEs) in 31 home dust samples collected in Pretoria, South Africa. Low concentrations of PBB and PBDE congeners were detected in 21 and 7 samples, respectively. The Σ10PBDEs concentration ranged from <0.3 to 234ngg−1 dry weight (dw) of dust with a median of 18.3ngg−1 dw. No significant differences in the total concentration of PBDEs were observed among three socio-economic categories considered. The overall daily intake of PBDEs via ingestion of dust was estimated for children and adults using median concentrations of Σ10PBDEs. Accordingly, for children and adults the exposure rate values are 0.96 and 0.38ngday−1, respectively. In addition, the estimated daily dust ingestion exposure rate doses for children and adults with respect to BDE-47 and BDE-99 were by far lower than the reference dose values. It can, therefore, be said that South Africans living in Pretoria are exposed to low concentrations of PBDEs from home environment dust.