title: Mass transfer of PBDEs from plastic TV casing to indoor dust via three migration pathways--A test chamber investigation.
abstract: Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) are widely detected in humans with substantial exposure thought to occur in indoor environments and particularly via contact with indoor dust. Despite this, knowledge of how PBDEs migrate to indoor dust from products within which they are incorporated is scarce. This study utilises an in-house designed and built test chamber to investigate the relative significance of different mechanisms via which PBDEs transfer from source materials to dust, using a plastic TV casing treated with the Deca-BDE formulation as a model source. Experiments at both room temperature and 60°C revealed no detectable transfer of PBDEs from the TV casing to dust via volatilisation and subsequent partitioning. In contrast, substantial transfer of PBDEs to dust was detected when the TV casing was abraded using a magnetic stirrer bar. Rapid and substantial PBDE transfer to dust was also observed in experiments in which dust was placed in direct contact with the source. Based on these experiments, we suggest that for higher molecular weight PBDEs like BDE-209; direct dust:source contact is the principal pathway via which source-to-dust transfer occurs.
authors.affiliation: School of Geography Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Birmingham, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Rauert
authors.affiliation: School of Geography Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Birmingham, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK. Electronic address: S.J.Harrad@bham.ac.uk.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Harrad
mesh_terms: D016902:Air Pollution, Indoor / Q000032:analysis*; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D005411:Flame Retardants / Q000032:analysis*; D055768:Halogenated Diphenyl Ethers / Q000032:analysis*; D008956:Models, Chemical; D010969:Plastics / Q000737:chemistry*; D013690:Television
chemical_list: D005411:Flame Retardants; D055768:Halogenated Diphenyl Ethers; D010969:Plastics
keywords: Brominated flame retardants; Migration pathways to dust; PBDEs; Test chambers