title: Biomarkers of human exposure to personal care products: results from the Flemish Environment and Health Study (FLEHS 2007-2011).
abstract: Personal care products (PCPs), such as soaps, perfumes, cosmetics, lotions, etc., contain a variety of chemicals that have been described as potentially hormone disrupting chemicals. Therefore, it is important to assess the internal exposure of these chemicals in humans. Within the 2nd Flemish Environment and Health Study (FLEHS II, 2007-2011), the human exposure to three classes of pollutants that are present in a wide variety of PCPs--i.e. polycyclic musks (galaxolide, HHCB and tonalide, AHTN in blood), parabens (urinary para-hydroxybenzoic acid, HBA) and triclosan (urinary TCS)--was assessed in 210 Flemish adolescents (14-15 years) and in 204 adults (20-40 years) randomly selected from the general population according to a stratified two stage clustered study design. The aim of this study was to define average levels of exposure in the general Flemish population and to identify determinants of exposure. Average levels (GM (95% CI)) in the Flemish adolescents were 0.717 (0.682-0.753) μg/L for blood HHCB; 0.118 (0.108-0.128) μg/L for blood AHTN; 1022 (723-1436) μg/L for urinary HBA and 2.19 (1.64-2.92) μg/L for urinary TCS. In the adults, levels of HBA were on average 634 (471-970) μg/L. Inter-individual variability was small for HHCB and AHTN, intermediate for HBA, and large for TCS. All biomarkers were positively associated with the use of PCPs. Additionally, levels of HHCB and AHTN increased with higher educational level of the adolescents. Both in adults and adolescents, urinary HBA levels were negatively correlated with BMI. We define here Flemish exposure values for biomarkers of PCPs, which can serve as baseline exposure levels to identify exposure trends in future biomonitoring campaigns.
authors.affiliation: Environmental Risk and Health Unit, Flemish Institute for Technological Research (VITO), Mol, Belgium. Electronic address: elly.denhond@vito.be.
authors.forename: Elly
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Den Hond
authors.forename: Melissa
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Paulussen
authors.forename: Tinne
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Geens
authors.forename: Liesbeth
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Bruckers
authors.forename: Willy
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Baeyens
authors.forename: Frank
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: David
authors.forename: Emmie
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Dumont
authors.forename: Ilse
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Loots
authors.forename: Bert
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Morrens
authors.forename: Benoit Nemery
authors.initials: BN
authors.lastname: de Bellevaux
authors.forename: Vera
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Nelen
authors.forename: Greet
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Schoeters
authors.forename: Nicolas
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Van Larebeke
authors.forename: Adrian
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Covaci
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001530:Belgium / Q000453:epidemiology; D001578:Benzopyrans / Q000097:blood; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D003358:Cosmetics / Q000009:adverse effects*; D004781:Environmental Exposure / Q000032:analysis*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010226:Parabens / Q000032:analysis; D012915:Soaps / Q000009:adverse effects*; D013764:Tetrahydronaphthalenes / Q000097:blood; D014260:Triclosan / Q000097:blood; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D001578:Benzopyrans; D015415:Biomarkers; D003358:Cosmetics; D010226:Parabens; D012915:Soaps; D013764:Tetrahydronaphthalenes; C033119:galaxolide; C033116:acetyl methyl tetramethyl tetralin; D014260:Triclosan
keywords: Human biomonitoring; Musks; Parabens; Personal care products; Triclosan