Occurrence of Halogenated and Organophosphate Flame Retardants in Sediments and Eels (Anguilla anguilla) From Bizerte Lagoon, Tunisia

Sabrine Mekni,Ethel Eljarrat,Mohamed Ridha Driss,Soufiane Touil,Badreddine Barhoumi

doi:10.3389/fenvs.2020.00067

Abstract

Contamination by classic (polybromodiphenyl ethers, PBDEs) and emerging halogenated flame retardants (HFRs) like pentabromobenzene (PBEB), hexabromobenzene (HBB), decabromodiphenyl ethane (DBDPE ) and halogenated norbornenes (HNs), as well as organophosphate flame retardants (OPFRs) were investigated in sediment and eel (Anguilla Anguilla) samples from Bizerte Lagoon, northern Tunisia. This is the first time that OPFR levels have been reported in this area, showing higher concentrations than HFRs: from 9.77 to 164 ng/g dry weight (dw) and from 19.7 to 2154 ng/g lipid weight (lw) for sediment and eel samples, respectively. As regards HFRs, concentrations ranged from 3.30 to 28.5 ng/g dw in sediments and from 4.72 to 151 ng/g lw in eels. The relationship between OPFR and HFR concentrations in sediment and total organic content (TOC) was examined. Results suggested that OPFR levels were significantly correlated with TOC, whereas no correlation was found for HFRs and TOC. The study of potential health risks by eel consumption suggested that there is no significant human health risk associated with the dietary intakes for PBDEs.

Highlights

The growth of the human industrial activities has resulted in the contamination of many ecosystems
The aim of this study is to evaluate the occurrence of halogenated flame retardants (HFRs) and organophosphorus flame retardants (OPFRs) in both abiotic and biotic samples from Bizerte Lagoon
polybromodiphenyl ethers (PBDEs) were detected in all analyzed samples, between 3.03 and 59.0 ng/g lw, whereas emerging BFRs were not detected in any sample

Summary

Introduction

The growth of the human industrial activities has resulted in the contamination of many ecosystems. PBDEs have been found in numerous environmental and biological matrices, such as sediment (Hu et al, 2010; Barón et al, 2014a; Herrero et al, 2018), air (Castro-Jiménez et al, 2017; Reche et al, 2019; Yadav and Nevi, 2019), biota (McHugh et al, 2010; Ben Ameur et al, 2013; Barhoumi et al, 2014a; Polder et al, 2014) and human samples (Norén and Meironyté, 2000; Zhou et al, 2002; Ben Hasine et al, 2015). Due to their adverse effect on the environment and human health, PBDEs were banned and added to the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) (SC, 2008)

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Conclusion