title: Overview on relative importance of house dust ingestion in human exposure to polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs): International comparison and Korea as a case.
abstract: Human exposure studies to polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) have reached different results about the relative importance of diet intake and house dust ingestion. In the present study, concentrations of PBDEs in Korean house dust (n=15) from geographically different cities were measured, which were in agreement with a previous result, and compared with those for 22 countries of five continents collected from the most recent scientific literature. Compared with other exposure pathways, diet intake was the most important contributor to total PBDEs exposure of Korean adults (i.e., 71% of overall intake). On global comparison, total PBDE levels in house dust differed by two to three orders of magnitude among the countries investigated, with a significant relationship with gross domestic product (GDP). Whereas, dietary daily intakes exhibited a narrow difference within one order of magnitude worldwide and no relationship with GDP. Consequently, the relative importance of major two pathways depended on the contamination extent of PBDEs in house dust, which may be associated with the amount of PBDE products in use. In most countries except for UK and USA, the contribution of house dust ingestion was less important than diet intake in the current and are expected to much more mitigate in the future. However, how fast the effect of regulation will be reflected to house dust and human exposure is necessary to be monitored steadily.
authors.affiliation: Department of Marine Science, College of Natural Sciences, Incheon National University, 119 Academy-ro (Songdo-dong), Yeonsu-gu, Incheon 22012, Republic of Korea; Research Institute of Basic Sciences, Incheon National University, 119 Academy-ro (Songdo-dong), Yeonsu-gu, Incheon 22012, Republic of Korea. Electronic address: skkim@inu.ac.kr.
authors.forename: Seung-Kyu
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Battey R&D, Samsung SDI, 130 Samsung-ro, Yeongtong-gu, Gyeonggi-do, Suwon 443-803, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Kyoung-Soo
authors.initials: KS
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Oil and POPs Research Group, Korean Institute of Ocean Science and Technology, Geoje-shi 656-834, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Hee Hong
authors.initials: HH
authors.lastname: Sang
mesh_terms: D000393:Air Pollutants / Q000032:analysis*; D016902:Air Pollution, Indoor / Q000032:analysis*; D004391:Dust / Q000032:analysis*; D004435:Eating; D004781:Environmental Exposure; D055768:Halogenated Diphenyl Ethers / Q000032:analysis*; D006801:Humans; D056910:Republic of Korea
chemical_list: D000393:Air Pollutants; D004391:Dust; D055768:Halogenated Diphenyl Ethers
keywords: Daily intake; Emerging pollutants; Exposure pathways; House dust; Indoor environment; Multi-media; PBDEs