USF St. Petersburg campus Faculty Publications

Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) and alternative flame retardants (NFRs) in indoor and outdoor air and indoor dust from Istanbul-Turkey: Levels and an assessment of human exposure.

SelectedWorks Author Profiles:

Henry A. Alegria

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2017

ISSN

1309-1042

Abstract

Levels of polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) and novel brominated flame retardants (NFRs) were measured in ambient outdoor air, indoor air and indoor dust collected in homes and offices at urban, semi-urban and rural locations in Istanbul, Turkey. Indoor air levels of Σ12PBDEs in homes and offices ranged from 36 to 730 pg/m3 and 160 to 10 100 pg/m3, respectively, while levels of Σ12NFRs ranged from 180 to 7600 pg/m3 and 180 to 42 400 pg/m3, respectively. Outdoor air levels ranged from 110 to 620 pg/m3 for Σ12PBDEs and 750 to 2800 pg/m3 for Σ12NFRs. I/O ratios that are greater than 1 suggest that air concentrations detected in indoor environments are mainly from indoor sources. Indoor dust levels in homes and offices of Σ12PBDEs ranged from 400 to 12 500 ng/g and 330 to 32 200 ng/g respectively and levels of Σ12NFRs ranged from 320 to 31 400 ng/g and 910 to 97 900 ng/g, respectively. The I/O ratios >1 for PBDEs and NFRs may indicate that emissions of these chemicals detected in homes and offices are mainly from indoor sources. Due to childrens' frequent hand-to-mouth behaviour, lower body weight and increased dust ingestion rate compared to adults, exposure rates to target chemicals for children were greater than those of adults. Based on median concentrations of chemicals of interest in dust and air samples from Istanbul, we estimate that exposure rates of children to PBDEs and NFRs are up to 160 times higher compared to adults but none of the estimated exposure rates results for children or adults were than the recommended daily oral reference dose values of certain analytes.

Comments

Abstract only. Full-text article is available through licensed access provided by the publisher. Published in Atmospheric Pollution Research 8(5), 801-815. doi: 10.1016/j.apr.2017.01.010. Members of the USF System may access the full-text of the article through the authenticated link provided.

Publisher

Dokuz Eylul Universitesi

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.

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