title: Exposure to PCBs, through inhalation, dermal contact and dust ingestion at Taizhou, China--a major site for recycling transformers.
abstract: Air samples containing gaseous and particulate phases were collected from e-waste workplaces and residential areas of an intensive e-waste recycling area and compared with a reference site. The highest total concentration of PCBs was detected at transformer recycling workshops (17.6 ng m(-3)), followed by the residential area (3.37 ng m(-3)) at Taizhou, and the lowest was obtained at the residential area of the reference site, Lin'an (0.46 ng m(-3)). The same trend was also observed with regards to PCB levels in dust samples. The highest average PCBs level of 2824 ng g(-1) (dry wt) was found in the transformer recycling workshops, and was significantly higher than that of residential areas of Taizhou (572 ng g(-1) dry wt) and Lin'an (42.4 ng g(-1) dry wt). WHO-PCB-TEQ level in the workshops of Taizhou was 2216 pg TEQ(1998)g(-1) dry wt or 2159 pg TEQ(2005)g(-1) dry wt, due to the high abundance of PCB 126 (21.5 ng g(-1) dry wt), which contributed 97% or 99% of WHO-PCB-TEQs. The estimated intake of PCBs via dust ingestion and dermal absorption by transformer recycling workers were 77.5×10(-5) and 36.0×10(-5) pg WHO-PCB-TEQ(1998)kg(-1)d(-1), and 67.3×10(-5) and 31.3×10(-5) pg WHO-PCB-TEQ(2005)kg(-1)d(-1), respectively.
authors.affiliation: Croucher Institute for Environmental Sciences, and Department of Biology, Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong, PR China.
authors.forename: Guan Hua
authors.initials: GH
authors.lastname: Xing
authors.forename: Ying
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Liang
authors.forename: Ling Xuan
authors.initials: LX
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Sheng Chun
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Ming Hung
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Wong
mesh_terms: D000393:Air Pollutants / Q000032:analysis*; D000397:Air Pollution / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D002681:China; D004391:Dust / Q000032:analysis*; D059029:Electronic Waste / Q000032:analysis*; D004781:Environmental Exposure / Q000032:analysis* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D011078:Polychlorinated Biphenyls / Q000032:analysis*; D012867:Skin / Q000378:metabolism; D018505:Waste Management
chemical_list: D000393:Air Pollutants; D004391:Dust; D011078:Polychlorinated Biphenyls