title: Contamination of indoor dust and air by polychlorinated biphenyls and brominated flame retardants and relevance of non-dietary exposure in Vietnamese informal e-waste recycling sites.
abstract: This study investigated the occurrence of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), and several additive brominated flame retardants (BFRs) in indoor dust and air from two Vietnamese informal e-waste recycling sites (EWRSs) and an urban site in order to assess the relevance of these media for human exposure. The levels of polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), hexabromocyclododecane (HBCD), 1,2-bis-(2,4,6-tribromophenoxy)ethane (BTBPE) and decabromodiphenyl ethane (DBDPE) in settled house dust from the EWRSs (130-12,000, 5.4-400, 5.2-620 and 31-1400 ng g(-1), respectively) were significantly higher than in urban house dust but the levels of PCBs (4.8-320 ng g(-1)) were not higher. The levels of PCBs and PBDEs in air at e-waste recycling houses (1000-1800 and 620-720 pg m(-3), respectively), determined using passive sampling, were also higher compared with non-e-waste houses. The composition of BFRs in EWRS samples suggests the influence from high-temperature processes and occurrence of waste materials containing older BFR formulations. Results of daily intake estimation for e-waste recycling workers are in good agreement with the accumulation patterns previously observed in human milk and indicate that dust ingestion contributes a large portion of the PBDE intake (60%-88%), and air inhalation to the low-chlorinated PCB intake (>80% for triCBs) due to their high levels in dust and air, respectively. Further investigation of both indoor dust and air as the exposure media for other e-waste recycling-related contaminants and assessment of health risk associated with exposure to these contaminant mixtures is necessary.
authors.affiliation: Center for Marine Environmental Studies (CMES), Ehime University, 2-5 Bunkyo-cho, Matsuyama 790-8577, Japan.
authors.forename: Nguyen Minh
authors.initials: NM
authors.lastname: Tue
authors.forename: Shin
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Takahashi
authors.forename: Go
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Suzuki
authors.forename: Tomohiko
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Isobe
authors.forename: Pham Hung
authors.initials: PH
authors.lastname: Viet
authors.forename: Yuso
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kobara
authors.forename: Nobuyasu
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Seike
authors.forename: Gan
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Agus
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sudaryanto
authors.forename: Shinsuke
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tanabe
mesh_terms: D000393:Air Pollutants / Q000032:analysis*; D016902:Air Pollution, Indoor / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D004032:Diet; D004391:Dust / Q000032:analysis; D059029:Electronic Waste; D004781:Environmental Exposure / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005411:Flame Retardants / Q000032:analysis*; D055768:Halogenated Diphenyl Ethers / Q000032:analysis; D006801:Humans; D008895:Milk, Human / Q000737:chemistry; D011078:Polychlorinated Biphenyls / Q000032:analysis*; D059027:Recycling; D014744:Vietnam
chemical_list: D000393:Air Pollutants; D004391:Dust; D005411:Flame Retardants; D055768:Halogenated Diphenyl Ethers; D011078:Polychlorinated Biphenyls