Estimated daily intake of plasticizers in 1-week duplicate diet samples following regulation of DEHP-containing PVC gloves in Japan

Abstract

Duplicate hospital diet samples obtained over 1 week in 2001 were analysed to estimate the daily intake of plasticizers and the results were compared with those obtained in 1999. The plasticizers quantified in this study were: dibutyl phthalate, butylbenzyl phthalate (BBP), di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP), diisononyl phthalate (DINP), di(2-ethylhexyl) adipate (DEHA), diisononyl adipate (DINA) and O-acetyl tributyl citrate (ATBC). Dipropyl, dipentyl, dihexyl and dicyclohexyl phthalate were also analysed but not detected. The analytical procedure for this follow-up study was essentially the same as in the previous one. Detection limits were 0.1–15.6 ng g-1 for each plasticizer. One-week duplicate diet samples provided by three hospitals in three remote prefectures of Japan were analysed as individual meals. DEHP was detected at 6–675 ng g-1 in 62 of 63 meals, significantly lower levels compared with those detected in 1999. Levels of DEHA and DINP also decreased. The mean intake of plasticizers estimated from all samples was 160 μg DEHP day-1, 12.5 μg DEHA day-1, 4.7 μg DINP day-1 and 3.4 μg BBP day-1. Levels of DINA were relatively high in meals from one hospital: in those meals, the average daily intake was 1338 μg day-1. Those of ATBC were also higher in meals from another hospital: the average daily intake was 1228 μg day-1. The sources of DINA and ATBC can be cling-film or sausage packaging.