Experimental outgassing of toxic chemicals to simulate the characteristics of hazards tainting globally shipped products.

Lygia Therese Budnik,Jens Schubert,Nadine Austel,Sabrina Gadau,Stefan Kloth,Andreas Luch,Harald Jungnickel

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0177363

Abstract

Ambient monitoring analyses may identify potential new public health hazards such as residual levels of fumigants and industrial chemicals off gassing from products and goods shipped globally. We analyzed container air with gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry (TD-2D-GC-MS/FPD) and assessed whether the concentration of the volatiles benzene and 1,2-dichloroethane exceeded recommended exposure limits (REL). Products were taken from transport containers and analyzed for outgassing of volatiles. Furthermore, experimental outgassing was performed on packaging materials and textiles, to simulate the hazards tainting from globally shipped goods. The mean amounts of benzene in analyzed container air were 698-fold higher, and those of ethylene dichloride were 4.5-fold higher than the corresponding REL. More than 90% of all containers struck with toluene residues higher than its REL. For 1,2-dichloroethane 53% of containers, transporting shoes exceeded the REL. In standardized experimental fumigation of various products, outgassing of 1,2-dichloroethane under controlled laboratory conditions took up to several months. Globally produced transported products tainted with toxic industrial chemicals may contribute to the mixture of volatiles in indoor air as they are likely to emit for a long period. These results need to be taken into account for further evaluation of safety standards applying to workers and consumers.

Highlights

With the globalized production and trade, most small and large companies import production parts, raw materials and goods from overseas and consumers place their individual orders anywhere in the world [1, 2]
To evaluate the levels of presumably carcinogenic chemicals in containers in correlation with the transported products, we have first analyzed the container air in 2,027 randomly chosen containers arriving at the harbor of Hamburg in the years 2010–2014 by using TD-GC/MS [29]
The median values for benzene were much higher than the recommended exposure limits (REL) values of 0.98 μL/m3

Summary

Introduction

With the globalized production and trade, most small and large companies import production parts, raw materials and goods from overseas and consumers place their individual orders anywhere in the world [1, 2]. Treatment of materials with volatile chemical agents referred to as fumigation is regulated by the international standards of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) for phytosanitary measures (ISPM 15).

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