title: Temporal trends of polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) in the blood of newborns from New York State during 1997 through 2011: analysis of dried blood spots from the newborn screening program.
abstract: Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) are ubiquitous environmental pollutants, and on a global basis, North American populations are exposed to the highest doses of PBDEs. In response to the exponential increase in human exposure to PBDEs during the late 1990s, some PBDE formulations were phased out from production in the early 2000s. The effectiveness of the phase-out of commercial penta-BDE and octa-BDE mixtures in 2004 in the U.S. on human exposure levels is not known. Dried blood spots (DBSs), collected for the newborn screening program (NSP) in the U.S., are a valuable resource for the elucidation of trends in exposure to environmental pollutants in newborns. In this study, seven PBDE congeners were determined by gas chromatography-high resolution mass spectrometry (GC-HRMS) in archived DBS samples (in total, 51 blood spot composites from 1224 newborns) collected from newborns in New York State (NYS) from 1997 to 2011. The most frequently detected PBDE congener was BDE-47, with a detection rate (DR) of 86%, followed by BDE-99 (DR: 45%) and BDE-100 (DR: 43%). The mean concentrations determined during 1997 through 2011 in the whole blood of newborns were 0.128, 0.040, and 0.012 ng/mL for BDE-47, -99, and -100, respectively. A significant correlation was found among the concentrations of three major congeners (p < 0.001). PBDE concentrations were similar during 1997 through 2002 and, thereafter, decreased significantly, which was similar to the trends observed for perfluorinated compounds (PFCs) in DBS samples. Occurrence of PBDEs in the whole blood of newborns confirms that these compounds do cross the placental barrier.
authors.affiliation: Wadsworth Center, New York State Department of Health, and Department of Environmental Health Sciences, School of Public Health, State University of New York at Albany, Empire State Plaza, P.O. Box 509, Albany, New York 12201-0509, USA.
authors.forename: Wan-Li
authors.initials: WL
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.forename: Sehun
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yun
authors.forename: Erin M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Bell
authors.forename: Charlotte M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Druschel
authors.forename: Michele
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Caggana
authors.forename: Kenneth M
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Aldous
authors.forename: Germaine M
authors.initials: GM
authors.lastname: Buck Louis
authors.forename: Kurunthachalam
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kannan
mesh_terms: D055768:Halogenated Diphenyl Ethers / Q000097:blood*; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D015997:Neonatal Screening; D009518:New York
chemical_list: D055768:Halogenated Diphenyl Ethers