Validation of Silicone Wristbands as Passive Samplers for the Assessment of Exposure to Flame Retardants and Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons

Abstract

Personal passive samplers are seeing increasing use as they do not require energy during deployment, they are cost-effective and less-invasive, and can represent exposures integrated over a longer time-period than active samplers. Silicone wristbands have recently been used for characterizing personal exposure to a variety of chemicals but it remains unclear what route of exposure the wristband represents. We hypothesized that wristbands integrate inhalation and dermal exposure. This study examined the relationship between exposures measured using three methods: wristband, traditional active sampler and skin wipes.Exposure of each adult participant (n=10) was measured for 72 consecutive hours. During this period each participant wore one silicone wristband, one silicone brooch/badge (PDMS) and an active personal air sampler containing a glass fiber filter followed by a PUF/XAD/PUF sandwich for 72 consecutive hours. Participants also collected hand wipes samples each time before washing their hands during the 72 hour period.Samples were analysed for 9 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and 13 flame retardants (FRs), including novel brominated flame retardants (NFRs), polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), and organophosphate esters (OPEs) using gas chromatography mass spectrometry. BDE-47, 99, and 209 were the most abundant among PBDEs, EHTBB, BEHTBP, and DBDPE among NFRs, TCEP, TCIPP, and TPHP among OPEs, and phenanthrene among PAHs. Preliminary results indicate that PBDEs, NFRs, OPEs, and PAHs in wristbands were in the range 0.1 to 6 ng/g band, 0.1 to 10 ng/g band, 0.1 to 200 ng/g band, and 0.1 to 20 ng/g band, respectively.Levels measured in wristbands were positively correlated with levels in hand wipes and OVS samples, confirming our hypothesis. We conclude that silicone wristbands are suitable for quantitative assessment of human exposure to a large range of chemicals simultaneously, and this exposure represents both inhalation and dermal contact.