Parabens in personal care products and indoor dust from Hanoi, Vietnam: Temporal trends, emission sources, and non-dietary exposure through dust ingestion

Abstract

The occurrence of seven typical parabens was investigated in several types of personal care products (PCPs) sold at supermarkets and in indoor dust samples collected from houses, laboratories, and medical stores in Hanoi, Vietnam. Parabens were frequently detected in PCPs regardless of the paraben indication in their ingredient labels. However, concentrations of parabens in labeled products (median 3280; range 1370–5610 μg/g) were much higher than those found in non-labeled products (69.4; not detected – 356 μg/g). Parabens were also measured in indoor dust samples of this study at elevated concentrations, ranging from not detected to 1650 (median 286 ng/g). Levels of parabens in the indoor dust samples collected in 2019 decreased in the order: house > medical store > laboratory dust, however, the difference was not statistically significant. Interestingly, levels of parabens in Vietnamese house dust exhibited an increasing trend over time, for example, mean/median concentrations of parabens in house dust samples collected in 2014, 2017, and 2019 were 245/205, 310/264, and 505/379 ng/g, respectively. Methylparaben was found at the highest frequency and concentrations in both PCPs and indoor dust samples. Mean exposure doses of total parabens through dust ingestion were estimated to be 2.02, 1.61, 0.968, 0.504, and 0.192 ng/kg-bw/d for infants, toddlers, children, teenagers, and adults, respectively. Further studies on the distribution, emission behavior, potential sources, and negative impacts of parabens in different environmental media in Vietnam are needed.