Profiling of multiple classes of flame retardants in house dust in China: Pattern analysis and human exposure assessment

Abstract

Legacy [e.g., brominated- (BFRs)] and alternative [e.g., organophosphate- (OPFRs) and nitrogenous- (NFRs)] flame retardants have a propensity to migrate out of consumer products, and thus are dispersed in indoor microenvironments. In this study, simultaneous presence of 11 BFRs, 18 OPFRs and 11 NFRs were measured in house dust collected from Tianjin, China. OPFRs were found at the highest concentrations, with a median value of 3200 ng/g, followed by NFRs (2600) and BFRs (1600). Tris(2-butoxyethyl) phosphate (median: 1800 ng/g), melamine (1100), and BDE-209 (870) were the top three most abundant chemicals in the respective groups. Location-specific patterns of flame retardant concentrations were found with 30%, 20% and 10% of samples were predominated by OPFRs, NFRs and BFRs, respectively, and the remaining samples contained by two or more of the chemical groups occurring concurrently. Network and cluster analysis results indicated the existence of multiple sources of flame retardants in the indoor microenvironment. Estimated human daily intakes via indoor dust ingestion were approximately several tens of ng/kg bw/day and were below their respective reference dose values. Our results indicate widespread occurrence of multiple flame retardant families in indoor dust and suggest need for continued monitoring and efforts to reduce exposures through dust ingestion.