Occurence of the phthalate esters in soil and street dust samples from the Novi Sad city area, Serbia, and the influence on the children’s and adults’ exposure

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This is the first study reporting the presence of 6 phthalic acid esters (PAEs) in 60 composite soil and street dust samples collected in the urban zone of Novi Sad, the second largest city in Serbia. The results were further used to assess children’s and adults’ PAEs nondietary daily intakes (DIs) through incidental soil and dust ingestion and/or dermal absorption. The study could be regarded as the important baseline for future monitoring of PAEs in the urban environments, particularly as it contributes to the rare data on PAEs occurence in the street dust.All 6 PAEs were detected in every analyzed soil and street dust samples from 0.0002mgkg−1 to 4.82mgkg−1, with the highest level obtained for di-(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP), which was the most dominant PAE (70–96%). The highest total PAEs (Σ6PAEs) contents in soil (2.12mgkg−1) and street dust (5.45mgkg−1) samples were obtained for the samples from city parks. In all soil samples, Σ6PAEs exceeded the soil sustainable quality limit sets by the relevant Serbian Regulation, but were much lower than the limit requiring remediation measures. Concerning the estimated DIs, children were more susceptible to PAEs intake than adults regardless of the exposure routes. All the estimated DIs values were far below the known reference values.