title: Airborne PBDEs in specialized occupational settings, houses and outdoor urban areas in Greece.
abstract: Airborne polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) were measured in workplaces, homes and urban outdoor air in Greece. The geometric mean concentrations of total PBDEs (sum of 19 congeners) in offices (205 pg m(-3)), internet cafes/computer rooms (127 pg m(-3)) and computers/electronics shops (85 pg m(-3)) were significantly higher than those in furniture stores (12 pg m(-3)), homes (8 pg m(-3)) and outdoor air (18 pg m(-3)). The daily inhalation intake of PBDEs estimated for the employees of the four occupational settings ranged from 0.2 to 1.4 ng day(-1) and it was significantly lower than the expected dietary intake (approximately 77 ng day(-1)). Although inhalation generally represented a small fraction of the overall daily exposure to PBDEs (approximately 1%), the results from a heavily contaminated office (10,848 pg m(-3) of total PBDEs) indicated that the intake from this route (65 ng day(-1)) may, in some extreme cases, be as important as diet.
authors.affiliation: Environmental Chemical Processes Laboratory, Department of Chemistry, University of Crete, Voutes-Heraklion, GR-71003 Heraklion, Greece.
authors.forename: Manolis
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mandalakis
authors.forename: Vassiliki
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Atsarou
authors.forename: Euripides G
authors.initials: EG
authors.lastname: Stephanou
mesh_terms: D000393:Air Pollutants / Q000032:analysis*; D016902:Air Pollution, Indoor / Q000032:analysis; D002947:Cities; D003132:Commerce; D003201:Computers; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000379:methods*; D004952:Esters / Q000032:analysis*; D004987:Ethers; D005191:Family Characteristics; D005411:Flame Retardants / Q000032:analysis*; D006115:Greece; D055768:Halogenated Diphenyl Ethers; D006801:Humans; D019570:Inhalation Exposure; D016273:Occupational Exposure; D010647:Phenyl Ethers / Q000032:analysis; D011075:Polybrominated Biphenyls / Q000032:analysis*; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric
chemical_list: C477694:2,2',4,4',5-brominated diphenyl ether; D000393:Air Pollutants; D004952:Esters; D004987:Ethers; D005411:Flame Retardants; D055768:Halogenated Diphenyl Ethers; D010647:Phenyl Ethers; D011075:Polybrominated Biphenyls; C517828:hexabrominated diphenyl ether 153; C511295:2,2',4,4'-tetrabromodiphenyl ether