title: Phthalate esters contamination in soils and vegetables of plastic film greenhouses of suburb Nanjing, China and the potential human health risk.
abstract: The contamination of phthalate esters (PAEs) has become a potential threat to the environment and human health because they could be easily released as plasticizers from the daily supply products, especially in polyethylene films. Concentration levels of total six PAEs, nominated as priority pollutants by the US Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA), were investigated in soils and vegetables from four greenhouse areas in suburbs of Nanjing, East China. Total PAEs concentration ranged from 930 ± 840 to 2,450 ± 710 μg kg(-1) (dry weight (DW)) in soil and from 790 ± 630 to 3,010 ± 2,130 μg kg(-1) in vegetables. Higher concentrations of PAEs were found in soils except in Suo Shi (SS) area and in vegetables, especially in potherb mustard and purple tsai-tai samples. Risk assessment mainly based on the exposures of soil ingestion and daily vegetable intake indicated that bis(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP) in the samples from Gu Li (GL) and Hu Shu (HS) exhibited the highest hazard to children less than 6-year old. Therefore, the human health risk of the PAEs contamination in soils and vegetables should greatly be of a concern, especially for their environmental estrogen analog effects.
authors: Key Laboratory of Soil Environment and Pollution Remediation, Institute of Soil Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, 210008, China.
authors: Ting Ting
authors: TT
authors: Ma
authors: Long Hua
authors: LH
authors: Wu
authors: Like
authors: L
authors: Chen
authors: Hai Bo
authors: HB
authors: Zhang
authors: Ying
authors: Y
authors: Teng
authors: Yong Ming
authors: YM
authors: Luo
mesh_terms: D000383:Agriculture / Q000379:methods; D002681:China; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000379:methods*; D004952:Esters / Q000032:analysis; D006801:Humans; D010795:Phthalic Acids / Q000032:analysis*; D010968:Plasticizers / Q000032:analysis*; D010969:Plastics / Q000737:chemistry*; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012989:Soil Pollutants / Q000032:analysis*; D014675:Vegetables / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000254:growth & development
chemical_list: D004952:Esters; D010795:Phthalic Acids; D010968:Plasticizers; D010969:Plastics; D012989:Soil Pollutants; C032279:phthalic acid