Abstract
Flame retardants (FRs) are widely used in consumer products including furniture foam and electronic equipment such as computers, monitors and TVs. Over time, FRs can easily migrate into the surrounding environments. Since brominated FRs (BFRs) has been determined of high concern due to their environmental persistence, bioaccumulation and potential toxicity, novel FRs have emerged. The present study was aimed at identifying and quantifying the indoor levels of 41 legacy and novel FRs, which include 20 OPFRs and 21 HFRs (8 PBDEs, 3 HBCDDs, 5 NBFRs and 5 DECs) in Tarragona Province (Catalonia, Spain). The results have confirmed the presence of both legacy and novel FRs in air and dust of homes, schools and offices. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first European study measuring OPFRs at office environments and also confirming the presence of the following OPFRs: TEP, TCIPP, T2IPPP, TPPO, DCP, TMCP and B4IPPPP in indoor air, even some of them at high levels. OPFRs in general and TCIPP in particular showed high concentrations in air (94,599 pg/m3 and 72,281 pg/m3, respectively) and dust (32,084 ng/g and 13,496 ng/g, respectively) samples collected in indoor environments. HBCDDs were found at high levels in dust (32,185 ng/g), whereas the presence of PBDEs and DECs were low in both matrices (<160 pg/m3 in air and <832 ng/g in dust). NBFRs showed higher levels than the two legacy FRs groups, which is supported by the current restrictions of these FRs (640 pg/m3 in air and 1291 ng/g in dust). Samples of schools had significantly lower levels of NBFRs, but significantly higher concentrations of HFRs in air than in home samples, while dust levels of HFRs were significantly lower than those in samples of offices. Regarding human health risks, the current assessment suggests that those derived from exposure to FRs were lower -although close- to assumable risks, evidencing the potential of FRs for non-carcinogenic and carcinogenic risks, mainly due to the exposure to TCIPP, which was the main contributor together with ΣHBCDDs and also EHDPP.
Highlights
Flame retardants (FRs) are a group of chemicals that are added to a wide variety of consumer products in order to prevent ignition and/or to reduce the spread of an already initiated fire (Björnsdotter et al, 2018)
In spite of the considerable list of measured organophosphate FRs (OPFRs) and their high concentrations, similar levels of ƩOPFRs and ƩHFRs were found in dust samples (32,084 and 34,306 ng/g, respectively) (Fig. 1b)
It is due to the very high levels of ƩHBCDDs found in dust samples, which were not observed in air
Summary
Flame retardants (FRs) are a group of chemicals that are added to a wide variety of consumer products in order to prevent ignition and/or to reduce the spread of an already initiated fire (Björnsdotter et al, 2018). Some FRs are used as additives, physically blended into rather than chemically bonded to the original materials. It facilitates the migration into the surrounding environment -via abrasion or volatilizationduring products lifetime (Li et al, 2019). Due to their persistence and resistance to degradation, some FRs can accumulate in indoor dust, air, water, foods, and sediments (Domínguez-Morueco et al, 2018; Ekpe et al, 2020; Wu et al, 2020). FRs can be biomagnified along the food chain, being present in human biosamples (Klinčić et al, 2020; Lee et al, 2020)
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