Dual body burdens of polychlorinated biphenyls and polybrominated diphenyl ethers among local residents in an e-waste recycling region in Southeast China.
E-waste recycling resulted in serious pollution of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) in Taizhou of Zhejiang Province, China. The aims of this study were to assess dual body burdens of the two pollutants and potential health risk for local residents. Blood samples were collected from two e-waste recycling sites, Luqiao (where PCBs-containing e-wastes were recycled) and Wenling (where PBDEs-containing e-wastes were recycled). The mean summation SigmaPCBs (CB-105, 118, 153, 183, and 180) and summation SigmaPBDEs (BDE-28, 47, 99, 100, 153, 154, 180, and 209) were 204.20 and 117.58 ng g(-1) lipid in the blood from Luqiao, respectively, while they were 83.80 and 357.44 ng g(-1) lipid from Wenling, respectively. The PCBs levels among Luqiao residents were comparable to the values reported for US populations, while the PBDEs levels among two study populations were higher than the values from US populations. This is the first report to present dual body burdens of PCBs and PBDEs at so high levels. Based on previous epidemiologic data, it is suggested that dual burdens of PCBs and PBDEs at so high levels might pose health risk for local residents. In addition, no correlation between PCBs or PBDEs concentrations and the ages of the volunteers was observed in the two populations, which was explained by similar exposure time. No correlation of PBDEs with PCBs concentrations suggested different pathways of human exposures to PCBs and PBDEs. Our findings have raised concern about human health risk of dual exposure to PCBs and PBDEs resulting from e-waste recycling.
Zhao
Xing-Ru
XR
State Key Laboratory of Environmental Chemistry and Ecotoxicology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, P.O. Box 2871, Beijing 100085, China.
Qin
Zhan-Fen
ZF
Yang
Zhong-Zhi
ZZ
Zhao
Qian
Q
Zhao
Ya-Xian
YX
Qin
Xiao-Fei
XF
Zhang
Yong-Chuan
YC
Ruan
Xian-Li
XL
Zhang
Yin-Feng
YF
Xu
Xiao-Bai
XB
D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D001822:Body Burden; D002681:China; D055615:Electrical Equipment and Supplies; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D005260:Female; D055768:Halogenated Diphenyl Ethers / Q000097:blood*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011078:Polychlorinated Biphenyls / Q000097:blood*; D012111:Residence Characteristics; D018570:Risk Assessment
D055768:Halogenated Diphenyl Ethers; D011078:Polychlorinated Biphenyls