title: Soil contamination by brominated flame retardants in open waste dumping sites in Asian developing countries.
abstract: In Asian developing countries, large amounts of municipal wastes are dumped into open dumping sites each day without adequate management. This practice may cause several adverse environmental consequences and increase health risks to local communities. These dumping sites are contaminated with many chemicals including brominated flame retardants (BFRs) such as polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) and hexabromocyclododecanes (HBCDs). BFRs may be released into the environment through production processes and through the disposal of plastics and electronic wastes that contain them. The purpose of this study was to elucidate the status of BFR pollution in municipal waste dumping sites in Asian developing countries. Soil samples were collected from six open waste dumping sites and five reference sites in Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Vietnam from 1999 to 2007. The results suggest that PBDEs are the dominant contaminants in the dumping sites in Asian developing countries, whereas HBCD contamination remains low. Concentrations of PBDEs and HBCDs ranged from ND to 180 μg/kg dry wt and ND to 1.4 μg/kg dry wt, respectively, in the reference sites and from 0.20 to 430 μg/kg dry wt and ND to 2.5 μg/kg dry wt, respectively, in the dumping sites. Contamination levels of PBDEs in Asian municipal dumping sites were comparable with those reported from electronic waste dismantling areas in Pearl River delta, China.
authors.affiliation: Center for Marine Environmental Studies (CMES), Ehime University, Matsuyama 790-8577, Japan.
authors.forename: Akifimi
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Eguchi
authors.forename: Tomohiko
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Isobe
authors.forename: Karri
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ramu
authors.forename: Nguyen Minh
authors.initials: NM
authors.lastname: Tue
authors.forename: Agus
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sudaryanto
authors.forename: Gnanasekaran
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Devanathan
authors.forename: Pham Hung
authors.initials: PH
authors.lastname: Viet
authors.forename: Rouch Seang
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: Tana
authors.forename: Shin
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Takahashi
authors.forename: Annamalai
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Subramanian
authors.forename: Shinsuke
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tanabe
mesh_terms: D002160:Cambodia; D002681:China; D003906:Developing Countries; D059029:Electronic Waste; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D004787:Environmental Pollution / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005411:Flame Retardants / Q000032:analysis*; D055768:Halogenated Diphenyl Ethers / Q000032:analysis; D006842:Hydrocarbons, Brominated / Q000032:analysis; D007194:India; D007214:Indonesia; D008296:Malaysia; D012037:Refuse Disposal; D012987:Soil; D012989:Soil Pollutants / Q000032:analysis*; D014744:Vietnam
chemical_list: D005411:Flame Retardants; D055768:Halogenated Diphenyl Ethers; D006842:Hydrocarbons, Brominated; D012987:Soil; D012989:Soil Pollutants; C089796:hexabromocyclododecane