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Gerofke A, Lange R, Vogel N, Schmidt P, Weber T, David M, Frederiksen H, Baken K, Govarts E, Gilles L, Martin LR, Martinsone Ž, Santonen T, Schoeters G, Scheringer M, Domínguez-Romero E, López ME, Calvo AC, Koch HM, Apel P, Kolossa-Gehring M. Phthalates and substitute plasticizers: Main achievements from the European human biomonitoring initiative HBM4EU. Int J Hyg Environ Health 2024; 259:114378. [PMID: 38631089 DOI: 10.1016/j.ijheh.2024.114378] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/08/2023] [Revised: 04/07/2024] [Accepted: 04/07/2024] [Indexed: 04/19/2024]
Abstract
Phthalates and the substitute plasticizer DINCH belong to the first group of priority substances investigated by the European Human Biomonitoring Initiative (HBM4EU) to answer policy-relevant questions and safeguard an efficient science-to-policy transfer of results. Human internal exposure levels were assessed using two data sets from all European regions and Israel. The first collated existing human biomonitoring (HBM) data (2005-2019). The second consisted of new data generated in the harmonized "HBM4EU Aligned Studies" (2014-2021) on children and teenagers for the ten most relevant phthalates and DINCH, accompanied by a quality assurance/quality control (QA/QC) program for 17 urinary exposure biomarkers. Exposures differed between countries, European regions, age groups and educational levels. Toxicologically derived Human biomonitoring guidance values (HBM-GVs) were exceeded in up to 5% of the participants of the HBM4EU Aligned Studies. A mixture risk assessment (MRA) including five reprotoxic phthalates (DEHP, DnBP, DiBP, BBzP, DiNP) revealed that for about 17% of the children and teenagers, health risks cannot be excluded. Concern about male reproductive health emphasized the need to include other anti-androgenic substances for MRA. Contaminated food and the use of personal care products were identified as relevant exposure determinants paving the way for new regulatory measures. Time trend analyses verified the efficacy of regulations: especially for the highly regulated phthalates exposure dropped significantly, while levels of the substitutes DINCH and DEHTP increased. The HBM4EU e-waste study, however, suggests that workers involved in e-waste management may be exposed to higher levels of restricted phthalates. Exposure-effect association studies indicated the relevance of a range of endpoints. A set of HBM indicators was derived to facilitate and accelerate science-to-policy transfer. Result indicators allow different groups and regions to be easily compared. Impact indicators allow health risks to be directly interpreted. The presented results enable successful science-to-policy transfer and support timely and targeted policy measures.
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Affiliation(s)
- Antje Gerofke
- German Environment Agency (UBA), Corrensplatz 1, 14195, Berlin, Germany.
| | - Rosa Lange
- German Environment Agency (UBA), Corrensplatz 1, 14195, Berlin, Germany
| | - Nina Vogel
- German Environment Agency (UBA), Corrensplatz 1, 14195, Berlin, Germany
| | - Phillipp Schmidt
- German Environment Agency (UBA), Corrensplatz 1, 14195, Berlin, Germany
| | - Till Weber
- German Environment Agency (UBA), Corrensplatz 1, 14195, Berlin, Germany
| | - Madlen David
- German Environment Agency (UBA), Corrensplatz 1, 14195, Berlin, Germany
| | - Hanne Frederiksen
- Department of Growth and Reproduction, Copenhagen University Hospital-Rigshospitalet, 2100, Copenhagen, Denmark; International Centre for Research and Research Training in Endocrine Disruption of Male Reproduction and Child Health (EDMaRC), Copenhagen University Hospital-Rigshospitalet, 2100, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Kirsten Baken
- Brabant Advies, Brabantlaan 3, 5216 TV 's, Hertogenbosch, the Netherlands
| | - Eva Govarts
- VITO Health, Flemish Institute for Technological Research (VITO), 2400 Mol, Belgium
| | - Liese Gilles
- VITO Health, Flemish Institute for Technological Research (VITO), 2400 Mol, Belgium
| | | | - Žanna Martinsone
- Institute of Occupational Safety and Environmental Health, Rīga Stradiņš University, Dzirciema 16, LV-1007, Riga, Latvia
| | - Tiina Santonen
- Finnish Institute of Occupational Health (FIOH), P.O. Box 40, FI-00032, Tyoterveyslaitos, Finland
| | - Greet Schoeters
- VITO Health, Flemish Institute for Technological Research (VITO), 2400 Mol, Belgium; University of Antwerp, Toxicological Center, Universiteitsplein 1, 2610, Wilrijk, Belgium; Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Antwerp, Universiteitsplein 1, 2610, Wilrijk, Belgium
| | - Martin Scheringer
- RECETOX, Faculty of Science, Masaryk University, Kotlarska 2, Brno, 611 37, Czech Republic
| | - Elena Domínguez-Romero
- RECETOX, Faculty of Science, Masaryk University, Kotlarska 2, Brno, 611 37, Czech Republic
| | - Marta Esteban López
- Environmental Toxicology Unit, National Centre for Environmental Health, Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII), 28220, Majadahonda, Spain
| | - Argelia Castaño Calvo
- Environmental Toxicology Unit, National Centre for Environmental Health, Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII), 28220, Majadahonda, Spain
| | - Holger M Koch
- Institute for Prevention and Occupational Medicine of the German Social Accident Insurance - Institute of the Ruhr-University Bochum (IPA), Bürkle-de-la-Camp-Platz 1, 44789 Bochum, Germany
| | - Petra Apel
- German Environment Agency (UBA), Corrensplatz 1, 14195, Berlin, Germany
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Jovanovic N, Mustieles V, Althuser M, Lyon-Caen S, Alfaidy N, Thomsen C, Sakhi AK, Sabaredzovic A, Bayat S, Couturier-Tarrade A, Slama R, Philippat C. Associations between synthetic phenols, phthalates, and placental growth/function: a longitudinal cohort with exposure assessment in early pregnancy. Hum Reprod Open 2024; 2024:hoae018. [PMID: 38689737 PMCID: PMC11057944 DOI: 10.1093/hropen/hoae018] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/20/2023] [Revised: 02/26/2024] [Indexed: 05/02/2024] Open
Abstract
STUDY QUESTION Is exposure to environmental chemicals associated with modifications of placental morphology and function? SUMMARY ANSWER Phthalates, a class of ubiquitous chemicals, showed an association with altered placental weight, placental vascular resistance (PVR), and placental efficiency. WHAT IS KNOWN ALREADY Only a few epidemiological studies have assessed the effects of phenols and phthalates on placental health. Their results were affected by exposure measurement errors linked to the rapid excretion of these compounds and the reliance on a limited number of spot urine samples to assess exposure. STUDY DESIGN SIZE DURATION A prospective mother-child cohort, with improved exposure assessment for non-persistent chemicals, recruited participants between 2014 and 2017. Sample size ranged between 355 (placental parameters measured at birth: placental weight and placental-to-fetal weight ratio (PFR): a proxy for placental efficiency) and 426 (placental parameters measured during pregnancy: placental thickness and vascular resistance). PARTICIPANTS/MATERIALS SETTING METHODS Phenols (four parabens, two bisphenols, triclosan, and benzophenone-3), 13 phthalate metabolites, and two non-phthalate plasticizer metabolites were measured in within-subject pools of repeated urine samples collected during the second and third trimesters of pregnancy (median = 21 samples/trimester/woman). Placental thickness and PVR were measured during pregnancy. The placenta was weighed at birth and the PFR was computed. Both adjusted linear regression and Bayesian Kernel Machine Regression were used to evaluate associations between phenols and phthalates (alone or as a mixture) and placental parameters. Effect modification by child sex was also investigated. MAIN RESULTS AND THE ROLE OF CHANCE Several phthalate metabolites were negatively associated with placental outcomes. Monobenzyl phthalate (MBzP) concentrations, during the second and third trimesters of pregnancy, were associated with a decrease in both placental weight at birth (β = -20.1 g [95% CI: -37.8; -2.5] and β = -17.4 g [95% CI: -33.2; -1.6], for second and third trimester, respectively) and PFR (β = -0.5 [95% CI: -1, -0.1] and β = -0.5 [95% CI: -0.9, -0.1], for the second and third trimester, respectively). Additionally, MBzP was negatively associated with PVR during the third trimester (β= -0.9 [95% CI: -1.8; 0.1]). Mono-n-butyl phthalate (MnBP), was negatively associated with PVR in both trimesters (β = -1.3, 95% CI: [-2.3, -0.2], and β = -1.2, 95% CI: [-2.4, -0.03], for the second and third trimester, respectively). After stratification for child sex, Σ diisononyl phthalate (DiNP) (either second or third-trimester exposures, depending on the outcomes considered) was associated with decreased PVR in the third trimester, as well as decreased placental weight and PFR in males. No associations were observed for phenol biomarkers. LIMITATIONS REASONS FOR CAUTION False positives cannot be ruled out. Therefore, chemicals that were associated with multiple outcomes (MnBP and DiNP) or reported in existing literature as associated with placental outcomes (MBzP) should be considered as the main results. WIDER IMPLICATIONS OF THE FINDINGS Our results are consistent with in vitro studies showing that phthalates target peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ, in the family of nuclear receptors involved in key placental development processes such as trophoblast proliferation, migration, and invasion. In addition to placental weight at birth, we studied placental parameters during pregnancy, which could provide a broader view of how environmental chemicals affect maternal-fetal exchanges over the course of pregnancy. Our findings contribute to the increasing evidence indicating adverse impacts of phthalate exposure on placental health. STUDY FUNDING/COMPETING INTERESTS This work was supported by the French Research Agency-ANR (MEMORI project ANR-21-CE34-0022). The SEPAGES cohort was supported by the European Research Council (N°311765-E-DOHaD), the European Community's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-206-N°308333-892 HELIX), the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (N° 874583 ATHLETE Project, N°825712 OBERON Project), the French Research Agency-ANR (PAPER project ANR-12-PDOC-0029-01, SHALCOH project ANR-14-CE21-0007, ANR-15-IDEX-02 and ANR-15-IDEX5, GUMME project ANR-18-CE36-005, ETAPE project ANR-18-CE36-0005-EDeN project ANR-19-CE36-0003-01), the French Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health & Safety-ANSES (CNAP project EST-2016-121, PENDORE project EST-2016-121, HyPAxE project EST-2019/1/039, PENDALIRE project EST-2022-169), the Plan Cancer (Canc'Air project), the French Cancer Research Foundation Association de Recherche sur le Cancer-ARC, the French Endowment Fund AGIR for chronic diseases-APMC (projects PRENAPAR, LCI-FOT, DysCard), the French Endowment Fund for Respiratory Health, the French Fund-Fondation de France (CLIMATHES-00081169, SEPAGES 5-00099903, ELEMENTUM-00124527). N.J. was supported by a doctoral fellowship from the University Grenoble Alpes. V.M. was supported by a Sara Borrell postdoctoral research contract (CD22/00176), granted by Instituto de Salud Carlos III (Spain) and NextGenerationEU funds. The authors declare no conflict of interest. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER ClinicalTrials.gov NCT02852499.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nicolas Jovanovic
- University Grenoble Alpes, Inserm U1209, CNRS UMR 5309, Team of Environmental Epidemiology Applied to Reproduction and Respiratory Health, Institute for Advanced Biosciences, Grenoble, France
| | - Vicente Mustieles
- University Grenoble Alpes, Inserm U1209, CNRS UMR 5309, Team of Environmental Epidemiology Applied to Reproduction and Respiratory Health, Institute for Advanced Biosciences, Grenoble, France
- Instituto de Investigación Biosanitaria (ibs. GRANADA), Granada, Spain
- CIBER de Epidemiología y Salud Pública (CIBERESP), Spain
- Department of Radiology and Physical Medicine, University of Granada, Biomedical Research Center (CIBM), Granada, Spain
| | - Marc Althuser
- Department of Obstetrics/Gynecology and Fetal Medicine, Grenoble University Hospital, Grenoble, France
| | - Sarah Lyon-Caen
- University Grenoble Alpes, Inserm U1209, CNRS UMR 5309, Team of Environmental Epidemiology Applied to Reproduction and Respiratory Health, Institute for Advanced Biosciences, Grenoble, France
| | - Nadia Alfaidy
- Commissariat à l'Energie Atomique (CEA), IRIG department, INSERM U1292, and Grenoble Alpes University (UGA), Grenoble, France
| | | | | | | | - Sam Bayat
- Department of Obstetrics/Gynecology and Fetal Medicine, Grenoble University Hospital, Grenoble, France
| | - Anne Couturier-Tarrade
- Université Paris-Saclay, UVSQ, INRAE, BREED, France
- Ecole Nationale Vétérinaire d’Alfort, BREED, Maisons-Alfort, France
| | - Rémy Slama
- University Grenoble Alpes, Inserm U1209, CNRS UMR 5309, Team of Environmental Epidemiology Applied to Reproduction and Respiratory Health, Institute for Advanced Biosciences, Grenoble, France
| | - Claire Philippat
- University Grenoble Alpes, Inserm U1209, CNRS UMR 5309, Team of Environmental Epidemiology Applied to Reproduction and Respiratory Health, Institute for Advanced Biosciences, Grenoble, France
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Bereketoglu C, Häggblom I, Turanlı B, Pradhan A. Comparative analysis of diisononyl phthalate and di(isononyl)cyclohexane-1,2 dicarboxylate plasticizers in regulation of lipid metabolism in 3T3-L1 cells. ENVIRONMENTAL TOXICOLOGY 2024; 39:1245-1257. [PMID: 37927243 DOI: 10.1002/tox.24010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/10/2023] [Revised: 10/04/2023] [Accepted: 10/16/2023] [Indexed: 11/07/2023]
Abstract
Diisononyl phthalate (DINP) and di(isononyl)cyclohexane-1,2-dicarboxylate (DINCH) are plasticizers introduced to replace previously used phthalate plasticizers in polymeric products. Exposure to DINP and DINCH has been shown to impact lipid metabolism. However, there are limited studies that address the mechanisms of toxicity of these two plasticizers. Here, a comparative toxicity analysis has been performed to evaluate the impacts of DINP and DINCH on 3T3-L1 cells. The preadipocyte 3T3-L1 cells were exposed to 1, 10, and 100 μM of DINP or DINCH for 10 days and assessed for lipid accumulation, gene expression, and protein analysis. Lipid staining showed that higher concentrations of DINP and DINCH can induce adipogenesis. The gene expression analysis demonstrated that both DINP and DINCH could alter the expression of lipid-related genes involved in adipogenesis. DINP and DINCH upregulated Pparγ, Pparα, C/EBPα Fabp4, and Fabp5, while both compounds significantly downregulated Fasn and Gata2. Protein analysis showed that both DINP and DINCH repressed the expression of FASN. Additionally, we analyzed an independent transcriptome dataset encompassing temporal data on lipid differentiation within 3T3-L1 cells. Subsequently, we derived a gene set that accurately portrays significant pathways involved in lipid differentiation, which we subsequently subjected to experimental validation through quantitative polymerase chain reaction. In addition, we extended our analysis to encompass a thorough assessment of the expression profiles of this identical gene set across 40 discrete transcriptome datasets that have linked to diverse pathological conditions to foreseen any potential association with DINP and DINCH exposure. Comparative analysis indicated that DINP could be more effective in regulating lipid metabolism.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ceyhun Bereketoglu
- Department of Bioengineering, Faculty of Engineering, Marmara University, Istanbul, Turkey
| | - Isabel Häggblom
- Biology, The Life Science Center, School of Science and Technology, Örebro University, Örebro, Sweden
| | - Beste Turanlı
- Department of Bioengineering, Faculty of Engineering, Marmara University, Istanbul, Turkey
- Health Biotechnology Joint Research and Application Center of Excellence, Istanbul, Turkey
| | - Ajay Pradhan
- Biology, The Life Science Center, School of Science and Technology, Örebro University, Örebro, Sweden
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4
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Cleys P, Hardy E, Ait Bamai Y, Poma G, Cseresznye A, Malarvannan G, Scheepers PTJ, Viegas S, Porras SP, Santonen T, Godderis L, Verdonck J, Poels K, Martins C, João Silva M, Louro H, Martinsone I, Akūlova L, van Nieuwenhuyse A, Graumans M, Mahiout S, Duca RC, Covaci A. HBM4EU e-waste study: Occupational exposure of electronic waste workers to phthalates and DINCH in Europe. Int J Hyg Environ Health 2024; 255:114286. [PMID: 37951141 DOI: 10.1016/j.ijheh.2023.114286] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/28/2023] [Revised: 10/06/2023] [Accepted: 10/23/2023] [Indexed: 11/13/2023]
Abstract
Workers involved in the processing of electronic waste (e-waste) are potentially exposed to toxic chemicals, including phthalates and alternative plasticizers (APs). Dismantling and shredding of e-waste may lead to the production of dust that contains these plasticizers. The aim of this study, which was part of the European Human Biomonitoring Initiative (HBM4EU), was to assess the exposure to phthalates (e.g. di-(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP), diethyl phthalate (DEP), di-butyl phthalate (DBP), butyl-benzyl phthalate (BBzP), di-isononyl phthalate (DiNP), di-isodecyl phthalate (DiDP) and cyclohexane-1,2-dicarboxylic di-isononyl ester (DINCH) in e-waste workers from ten European companies. This was achieved by (i) analysing urine samples from 106 e-waste workers collected at the beginning and at the end of the work week, (ii) comparing these with urine samples from 63 non-occupationally exposed controls, and (iii) analysing settled floor dust collected in e-waste premises. Significantly higher urinary concentrations of seven out of thirteen phthalates and DINCH metabolites were found in the e-waste workers compared to the control population. However, no significant differences were found between pre- and post-shift concentrations in the e-waste workers. Concentrations of DBP, DEHP and DiDP in dust were weakly to moderately positively correlated with their corresponding urinary metabolite concentrations in the e-waste workers (Spearman's ρ = 0.4, 0.3 and 0.2, respectively). Additionally, significantly lower urinary concentrations of nine phthalates and DINCH metabolites were found in e-waste workers using respiratory protective equipment (RPE) during their work activities, reflecting the potential benefits of RPE to prevent occupational exposure to phthalates and DINCH. The estimated daily intake (EDI) values obtained in this study were lower than the corresponding tolerable daily intake (TDI) adopted by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) for the general population, suggesting that the risk for negative health consequences in this population of e-waste workers from exposure to phthalates and DINCH is expected to be low. This was confirmed by the urinary metabolite concentrations of all workers being lower than the HBM4EU guidance values derived for the occupational exposed and general population. This study is one of the first to address the occupational exposure to phthalates and DINCH in Europe in e-waste dismantling workers, combining a human biomonitoring approach with analysis of settled indoor dust.
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Affiliation(s)
- Paulien Cleys
- Toxicological Centre, University of Antwerp, Universiteitsplein 1, Wilrijk, Belgium.
| | - Emilie Hardy
- Unit for Environmental Hygiene and Human Biological Monitoring, Laboratoire National de Santé, Rue Louis Rech 1, Dudelange, Luxembourg
| | - Yu Ait Bamai
- Toxicological Centre, University of Antwerp, Universiteitsplein 1, Wilrijk, Belgium; Center for Environmental and Health Sciences, Hokkaido University, Kita 12, Nishi 7, Sapporo, Japan
| | - Giulia Poma
- Toxicological Centre, University of Antwerp, Universiteitsplein 1, Wilrijk, Belgium
| | - Adam Cseresznye
- Toxicological Centre, University of Antwerp, Universiteitsplein 1, Wilrijk, Belgium
| | - Govindan Malarvannan
- Toxicological Centre, University of Antwerp, Universiteitsplein 1, Wilrijk, Belgium
| | - Paul T J Scheepers
- Radboud Institute for Biological and Environmental Sciences, Radboud University, Heyendaalseweg 135, Nijmegen, the Netherlands
| | - Susana Viegas
- NOVA National School of Public Health, Public Health Research Centre, Comprehensive Health Research Center, CHRC, NOVA University Lisbon, 1600-560, Lisbon, Portugal
| | - Simo P Porras
- Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, Topeliuksenkatu 41 b, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Tiina Santonen
- Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, Topeliuksenkatu 41 b, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Lode Godderis
- Department of Public Health and Primary Care, Environment and Health, KU Leuven, Herestraat 49, Leuven, Belgium; Idewe, External Service for Prevention and Protection at Work, Interleuvenlaan 58, 3001, Heverlee, Belgium
| | - Jelle Verdonck
- Department of Public Health and Primary Care, Environment and Health, KU Leuven, Herestraat 49, Leuven, Belgium
| | - Katrien Poels
- Department of Public Health and Primary Care, Environment and Health, KU Leuven, Herestraat 49, Leuven, Belgium
| | - Carla Martins
- NOVA National School of Public Health, Public Health Research Centre, Comprehensive Health Research Center, CHRC, NOVA University Lisbon, 1600-560, Lisbon, Portugal
| | - Maria João Silva
- National Institute of Health Dr. Ricardo Jorge, Department of Human Genetics, Lisbon and ToxOmics - Centre for Toxicogenomics and Human Health, NOVA Medical School, Universidade NOVA de Lisboa, 1099-085, Lisbon, Portugal
| | - Henriqueta Louro
- National Institute of Health Dr. Ricardo Jorge, Department of Human Genetics, Lisbon and ToxOmics - Centre for Toxicogenomics and Human Health, NOVA Medical School, Universidade NOVA de Lisboa, 1099-085, Lisbon, Portugal
| | - Inese Martinsone
- Laboratory of Hygiene and Occupational Diseases, Institute of Occupational Safety and Environmental Health, Rīga Stradiņš University, Dzirciema Street 16, Rīga, Latvia
| | - Lāsma Akūlova
- Laboratory of Hygiene and Occupational Diseases, Institute of Occupational Safety and Environmental Health, Rīga Stradiņš University, Dzirciema Street 16, Rīga, Latvia
| | - An van Nieuwenhuyse
- Unit for Environmental Hygiene and Human Biological Monitoring, Laboratoire National de Santé, Rue Louis Rech 1, Dudelange, Luxembourg; Department of Public Health and Primary Care, Environment and Health, KU Leuven, Herestraat 49, Leuven, Belgium
| | - Martien Graumans
- Radboud Institute for Biological and Environmental Sciences, Radboud University, Heyendaalseweg 135, Nijmegen, the Netherlands
| | - Selma Mahiout
- Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, Topeliuksenkatu 41 b, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Radu Corneliu Duca
- Unit for Environmental Hygiene and Human Biological Monitoring, Laboratoire National de Santé, Rue Louis Rech 1, Dudelange, Luxembourg; Department of Public Health and Primary Care, Environment and Health, KU Leuven, Herestraat 49, Leuven, Belgium
| | - Adrian Covaci
- Toxicological Centre, University of Antwerp, Universiteitsplein 1, Wilrijk, Belgium.
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Mínguez-Alarcón L, Gaskins AJ, Meeker JD, Braun JM, Chavarro JE. Endocrine-disrupting chemicals and male reproductive health. Fertil Steril 2023; 120:1138-1149. [PMID: 37827483 PMCID: PMC10841502 DOI: 10.1016/j.fertnstert.2023.10.008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/05/2023] [Accepted: 10/05/2023] [Indexed: 10/14/2023]
Abstract
Modifiable factors, such as environmental exposures, can impact human fertility. The objective of this review is to summarize the potential effects of exposure to important endocrine-disrupting chemicals on male reproductive health. Most experimental and animal data demonstrate strong evidence for the negative effects of exposure to phenols, phthalates, pesticides, and perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances on male reproductive health. Although evidence of negative associations in humans was overall strong for phthalates and pesticides, limited and inconclusive relationships were found for the other examined chemical biomarkers. Reasons for the discrepancies in results include but are not limited to, differences in study populations, exposure concentrations, number of samples collected, sample sizes, study design, and residual confounding. Additional studies are needed, particularly for newer phenols and perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, given the scarce literature on the topic and increasing exposures over time.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lidia Mínguez-Alarcón
- Channing Division of Network Medicine, Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts; Department of Environmental Health, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts
| | - Audrey J Gaskins
- Department of Epidemiology, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia
| | - John D Meeker
- Department of Environmental Health Sciences, University of Michigan School of Public Health, Ann Arbor, Michigan
| | - Joseph M Braun
- Department of Epidemiology, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island
| | - Jorge E Chavarro
- Channing Division of Network Medicine, Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts; Department of Epidemiology, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts; Department of Nutrition, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts.
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Seewoo BJ, Goodes LM, Mofflin L, Mulders YR, Wong EV, Toshniwal P, Brunner M, Alex J, Johnston B, Elagali A, Gozt A, Lyle G, Choudhury O, Solomons T, Symeonides C, Dunlop SA. The plastic health map: A systematic evidence map of human health studies on plastic-associated chemicals. ENVIRONMENT INTERNATIONAL 2023; 181:108225. [PMID: 37948868 DOI: 10.1016/j.envint.2023.108225] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/23/2022] [Revised: 09/15/2023] [Accepted: 09/19/2023] [Indexed: 11/12/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND The global production and use of plastic materials has increased dramatically since the 1960s and there is increasing evidence of human health impacts related to exposure to plastic-associated chemicals. There is, however, no comprehensive, regulatory, post-market monitoring for human health effects of plastic-associated chemicals or particles and it is unclear how many of these have been investigated for effects in humans, and therefore what the knowledge gaps are. OBJECTIVE To create a systematic evidence map of peer-reviewed human studies investigating the potential effects of exposure to plastic-associated particles/chemicals on health to identify research gaps and provide recommendations for future research and regulation policy. METHODS Medline and Embase databases were used to identify peer-reviewed primary human studies published in English from Jan 1960 - Jan 2022 that investigated relationships between exposures to included plastic-associated particles/chemicals measured and detected in bio-samples and human health outcomes. Plastic-associated particles/chemicals included are: micro and nanoplastics, due to their widespread occurrence and potential for human exposure; polymers, the main building blocks of plastic; plasticizers and flame retardants, the two most common types of plastic additives with the highest concentration ranges in plastic materials; and bisphenols and per- or polyfluoroalkyl substances, two chemical classes of known health concern that are common in plastics. We extracted metadata on the population and study characteristics (country, intergenerational, sex, age, general/special exposure risk status, study design), exposure (plastic-associated particle/chemical, multiple exposures), and health outcome measures (biochemical, physiological, and/or clinical), from which we produced the interactive database 'Plastic Health Map' and a narrative summary. RESULTS We identified 100,949 unique articles, of which 3,587 met our inclusion criteria and were used to create a systematic evidence map. The Plastic Health Map with extracted metadata from included studies are freely available at https://osf.io/fhw7d/ and summary tables, plots and overall observations are included in this report. CONCLUSIONS We present the first evidence map compiling human health research on a wide range of plastic-associated chemicals from several different chemical classes, in order to provide stakeholders, including researchers, regulators, and concerned individuals, with an efficient way to access published literature on the matter and determine knowledge gaps. We also provide examples of data clusters to facilitate systematic reviews and research gaps to help direct future research efforts. Extensive gaps are identified in the breadth of populations, exposures and outcomes addressed in studies of potential human health effects of plastic-associated chemicals. No studies of the human health effects of micro and/or nanoplastics were found, and no studies were found for 26/1,202 additives included in our search that are of known hazard concern and confirmed to be in active production. Few studies have addressed recent "substitution" chemicals for restricted additives such as organophosphate flame retardants, phthalate substitutes, and bisphenol analogues. We call for a paradigm shift in chemical regulation whereby new plastic chemicals are rigorously tested for safety before being introduced in consumer products, with ongoing post-introduction biomonitoring of their levels in humans and health effects throughout individuals' life span, including in old age and across generations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bhedita J Seewoo
- Plastics, Minderoo Foundation, 171-173 Mounts Bay Road 6000, Perth, WA, Australia; School of Biological Sciences, The University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia
| | - Louise M Goodes
- Plastics, Minderoo Foundation, 171-173 Mounts Bay Road 6000, Perth, WA, Australia; School of Biological Sciences, The University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia
| | - Louise Mofflin
- Plastics, Minderoo Foundation, 171-173 Mounts Bay Road 6000, Perth, WA, Australia; School of Biological Sciences, The University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia
| | - Yannick R Mulders
- Plastics, Minderoo Foundation, 171-173 Mounts Bay Road 6000, Perth, WA, Australia; School of Biological Sciences, The University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia
| | - Enoch Vs Wong
- Plastics, Minderoo Foundation, 171-173 Mounts Bay Road 6000, Perth, WA, Australia; School of Biological Sciences, The University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia
| | - Priyanka Toshniwal
- Plastics, Minderoo Foundation, 171-173 Mounts Bay Road 6000, Perth, WA, Australia; School of Biological Sciences, The University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia
| | - Manuel Brunner
- Plastics, Minderoo Foundation, 171-173 Mounts Bay Road 6000, Perth, WA, Australia; School of Molecular Sciences, The University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia
| | - Jennifer Alex
- Plastics, Minderoo Foundation, 171-173 Mounts Bay Road 6000, Perth, WA, Australia
| | - Brady Johnston
- Plastics, Minderoo Foundation, 171-173 Mounts Bay Road 6000, Perth, WA, Australia
| | - Ahmed Elagali
- Plastics, Minderoo Foundation, 171-173 Mounts Bay Road 6000, Perth, WA, Australia; School of Biological Sciences, The University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia
| | - Aleksandra Gozt
- Plastics, Minderoo Foundation, 171-173 Mounts Bay Road 6000, Perth, WA, Australia
| | - Greg Lyle
- Plastics, Minderoo Foundation, 171-173 Mounts Bay Road 6000, Perth, WA, Australia; School of Population Health, Curtin University, Kent St, Bentley WA 6102, Australia
| | - Omrik Choudhury
- Plastics, Minderoo Foundation, 171-173 Mounts Bay Road 6000, Perth, WA, Australia
| | - Terena Solomons
- Plastics, Minderoo Foundation, 171-173 Mounts Bay Road 6000, Perth, WA, Australia; Health and Medical Sciences (Library), The University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia
| | - Christos Symeonides
- Plastics, Minderoo Foundation, 171-173 Mounts Bay Road 6000, Perth, WA, Australia; Murdoch Children's Research Institute, Royal Children's Hospital, 50 Flemington Rd, Parkville, VIC 3052, Australia
| | - Sarah A Dunlop
- Plastics, Minderoo Foundation, 171-173 Mounts Bay Road 6000, Perth, WA, Australia; School of Biological Sciences, The University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia.
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7
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Rodriguez Martin L, Gilles L, Helte E, Åkesson A, Tägt J, Covaci A, Sakhi AK, Van Nieuwenhuyse A, Katsonouri A, Andersson AM, Gutleb AC, Janasik B, Appenzeller B, Gabriel C, Thomsen C, Mazej D, Sarigiannis D, Anastasi E, Barbone F, Tolonen H, Frederiksen H, Klanova J, Koponen J, Tratnik JS, Pack K, Gudrun K, Ólafsdóttir K, Knudsen LE, Rambaud L, Strumylaite L, Murinova LP, Fabelova L, Riou M, Berglund M, Szabados M, Imboden M, Laeremans M, Eštóková M, Janev Holcer N, Probst-Hensch N, Vodrazkova N, Vogel N, Piler P, Schmidt P, Lange R, Namorado S, Kozepesy S, Szigeti T, Halldorsson TI, Weber T, Jensen TK, Rosolen V, Puklova V, Wasowicz W, Sepai O, Stewart L, Kolossa-Gehring M, Esteban-López M, Castaño A, Bessems J, Schoeters G, Govarts E. Time Patterns in Internal Human Exposure Data to Bisphenols, Phthalates, DINCH, Organophosphate Flame Retardants, Cadmium and Polyaromatic Hydrocarbons in Europe. TOXICS 2023; 11:819. [PMID: 37888670 PMCID: PMC10610666 DOI: 10.3390/toxics11100819] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/24/2023] [Revised: 09/21/2023] [Accepted: 09/26/2023] [Indexed: 10/28/2023]
Abstract
Human biomonitoring (HBM) data in Europe are often fragmented and collected in different EU countries and sampling periods. Exposure levels for children and adult women in Europe were evaluated over time. For the period 2000-2010, literature and aggregated data were collected in a harmonized way across studies. Between 2011-2012, biobanked samples from the DEMOCOPHES project were used. For 2014-2021, HBM data were generated within the HBM4EU Aligned Studies. Time patterns on internal exposure were evaluated visually and statistically using the 50th and 90th percentiles (P50/P90) for phthalates/DINCH and organophosphorus flame retardants (OPFRs) in children (5-12 years), and cadmium, bisphenols and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in women (24-52 years). Restricted phthalate metabolites show decreasing patterns for children. Phthalate substitute, DINCH, shows a non-significant increasing pattern. For OPFRs, no trends were statistically significant. For women, BPA shows a clear decreasing pattern, while substitutes BPF and BPS show an increasing pattern coinciding with the BPA restrictions introduced. No clear patterns are observed for PAHs or cadmium. Although the causal relations were not studied as such, exposure levels to chemicals restricted at EU level visually decreased, while the levels for some of their substitutes increased. The results support policy efficacy monitoring and the policy-supportive role played by HBM.
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Affiliation(s)
- Laura Rodriguez Martin
- VITO Health, Flemish Institute for Technological Research (VITO), 2400 Mol, Belgium; (L.G.); (K.G.); (M.L.); (J.B.); (G.S.); (E.G.)
| | - Liese Gilles
- VITO Health, Flemish Institute for Technological Research (VITO), 2400 Mol, Belgium; (L.G.); (K.G.); (M.L.); (J.B.); (G.S.); (E.G.)
| | - Emilie Helte
- Institute of Environmental Medicine, Karolinska Institutet, 17177 Stockholm, Sweden; (E.H.); (A.Å.); (J.T.); (M.B.)
| | - Agneta Åkesson
- Institute of Environmental Medicine, Karolinska Institutet, 17177 Stockholm, Sweden; (E.H.); (A.Å.); (J.T.); (M.B.)
| | - Jonas Tägt
- Institute of Environmental Medicine, Karolinska Institutet, 17177 Stockholm, Sweden; (E.H.); (A.Å.); (J.T.); (M.B.)
| | - Adrian Covaci
- Toxicological Centre, University of Antwerp, Universiteitsplein 1, 2610 Antwerp, Belgium;
| | - Amrit K. Sakhi
- Norwegian Institute of Public Health, 0456 Oslo, Norway; (A.K.S.); (C.T.)
| | - An Van Nieuwenhuyse
- Laboratoire National de Santé (LNS), Rue Louis Rech 1, 3555 Dudelange, Luxembourg;
| | | | - Anna-Maria Andersson
- Department of Growth and Reproduction, Copenhagen University Hospital, Rigshospitalet, 2100 Copenhagen, Denmark; (A.-M.A.); (H.F.)
- International Center for Research and Research Training in Endocrine Disruption of Male Reproduction and Child Health (EDMaRC), University of Copenhagen, Rigshospitalet, 2100 Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Arno C. Gutleb
- Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology (LIST), 4362 Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg;
| | - Beata Janasik
- Nofer Institute of Occupational Medicine, 91-348 Lodz, Poland; (B.J.); (W.W.)
| | | | - Catherine Gabriel
- Environmental Engineering Laboratory, Department of Chemical Engineering, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 54124 Thessaloniki, Greece; (C.G.); (D.S.)
- HERACLES Research Center on the Exposome and Health, Center for Interdisciplinary Research and Innovation, Balkan Center, Bldg. B, 10th km Thessaloniki-Thermi Road, 57001 Thessaloniki, Greece
| | - Cathrine Thomsen
- Norwegian Institute of Public Health, 0456 Oslo, Norway; (A.K.S.); (C.T.)
| | - Darja Mazej
- Jožef Stefan Institute, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia; (D.M.); (J.S.T.)
| | - Denis Sarigiannis
- Environmental Engineering Laboratory, Department of Chemical Engineering, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 54124 Thessaloniki, Greece; (C.G.); (D.S.)
- HERACLES Research Center on the Exposome and Health, Center for Interdisciplinary Research and Innovation, Balkan Center, Bldg. B, 10th km Thessaloniki-Thermi Road, 57001 Thessaloniki, Greece
- Environmental Health Engineering, Institute of Advanced Study, Palazzo del Broletto–Piazza Della Vittoria 15, 27100 Pavia, Italy
| | - Elena Anastasi
- State General Laboratory, Ministry of Health, 2081 Nicosia, Cyprus; (A.K.); (E.A.)
| | - Fabio Barbone
- Department of Medicine, Surgery and Health Sciences, University of Trieste, Strada di Fiume, 447, 34149 Trieste, Italy;
| | - Hanna Tolonen
- Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL), 00271 Helsinki, Finland; (H.T.); (J.K.)
| | - Hanne Frederiksen
- Department of Growth and Reproduction, Copenhagen University Hospital, Rigshospitalet, 2100 Copenhagen, Denmark; (A.-M.A.); (H.F.)
| | - Jana Klanova
- RECETOX, Faculty of Science, Masaryk University, Kotlarska 2, 625 00 Brno, Czech Republic; (J.K.); (P.P.)
| | - Jani Koponen
- Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL), 00271 Helsinki, Finland; (H.T.); (J.K.)
| | | | - Kim Pack
- Department of Toxicology, Health-Related Environmental Monitoring, German Environment Agency (UBA), 14195 Berlin, Germany; (K.P.); (N.V.); (P.S.); (R.L.); (T.W.)
| | - Koppen Gudrun
- VITO Health, Flemish Institute for Technological Research (VITO), 2400 Mol, Belgium; (L.G.); (K.G.); (M.L.); (J.B.); (G.S.); (E.G.)
| | - Kristin Ólafsdóttir
- Faculty of Food Science and Nutrition, University of Iceland, Hofsvallagata 53, 107 Reykjavik, Iceland; (K.Ó.); (T.I.H.)
| | - Lisbeth E. Knudsen
- Section of Environmental Health, University of Copenhagen, 1165 Copenhagen, Denmark;
| | - Loïc Rambaud
- Department of Environmental and Occupational Health, Santé Publique France, 94410 Saint Maurice, France (M.R.)
| | - Loreta Strumylaite
- Neuroscience Institute, Medical Academy, Lithuanian University of Health Sciences, LT-50161 Kaunas, Lithuania;
| | - Lubica Palkovicova Murinova
- Department of Environmental Medicine, Faculty of Public Health, Slovak Medical University, 833 03 Bratislava, Slovakia; (L.P.M.)
| | - Lucia Fabelova
- Department of Environmental Medicine, Faculty of Public Health, Slovak Medical University, 833 03 Bratislava, Slovakia; (L.P.M.)
| | - Margaux Riou
- Department of Environmental and Occupational Health, Santé Publique France, 94410 Saint Maurice, France (M.R.)
| | - Marika Berglund
- Institute of Environmental Medicine, Karolinska Institutet, 17177 Stockholm, Sweden; (E.H.); (A.Å.); (J.T.); (M.B.)
| | - Maté Szabados
- National Public Health Center, Albert Florian 2-6, 1097 Budapest, Hungary; (M.S.); (S.K.); (T.S.)
| | - Medea Imboden
- Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, Kreuzstrasse 2, 4123 Allschwil, Switzerland; (M.I.); (N.P.-H.)
| | - Michelle Laeremans
- VITO Health, Flemish Institute for Technological Research (VITO), 2400 Mol, Belgium; (L.G.); (K.G.); (M.L.); (J.B.); (G.S.); (E.G.)
| | - Milada Eštóková
- Department of Environment and Health, Public Health Authority, 83105 Bratislava, Slovakia;
| | - Natasa Janev Holcer
- Division for Environmental Health, Croatian Institute of Public Health, Rockefellerova 7, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia;
- Department of Social Medicine and Epidemiology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Rijeka, Bráce Branchetta 20/1, 51000 Rijeka, Croatia
| | - Nicole Probst-Hensch
- Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, Kreuzstrasse 2, 4123 Allschwil, Switzerland; (M.I.); (N.P.-H.)
| | - Nicole Vodrazkova
- Centre for Health and Environment, National Institute of Public Health, 100 00 Prague, Czech Republic; (N.V.); (V.P.)
| | - Nina Vogel
- Department of Toxicology, Health-Related Environmental Monitoring, German Environment Agency (UBA), 14195 Berlin, Germany; (K.P.); (N.V.); (P.S.); (R.L.); (T.W.)
| | - Pavel Piler
- RECETOX, Faculty of Science, Masaryk University, Kotlarska 2, 625 00 Brno, Czech Republic; (J.K.); (P.P.)
| | - Phillipp Schmidt
- Department of Toxicology, Health-Related Environmental Monitoring, German Environment Agency (UBA), 14195 Berlin, Germany; (K.P.); (N.V.); (P.S.); (R.L.); (T.W.)
| | - Rosa Lange
- Department of Toxicology, Health-Related Environmental Monitoring, German Environment Agency (UBA), 14195 Berlin, Germany; (K.P.); (N.V.); (P.S.); (R.L.); (T.W.)
| | - Sónia Namorado
- Department of Epidemiology, National Institute of Health Doctor Ricardo Jorge, Avenida Padre Cruz, 1649-016 Lisbon, Portugal;
| | - Szilvia Kozepesy
- National Public Health Center, Albert Florian 2-6, 1097 Budapest, Hungary; (M.S.); (S.K.); (T.S.)
| | - Tamás Szigeti
- National Public Health Center, Albert Florian 2-6, 1097 Budapest, Hungary; (M.S.); (S.K.); (T.S.)
| | - Thorhallur I. Halldorsson
- Faculty of Food Science and Nutrition, University of Iceland, Hofsvallagata 53, 107 Reykjavik, Iceland; (K.Ó.); (T.I.H.)
| | - Till Weber
- Department of Toxicology, Health-Related Environmental Monitoring, German Environment Agency (UBA), 14195 Berlin, Germany; (K.P.); (N.V.); (P.S.); (R.L.); (T.W.)
| | - Tina Kold Jensen
- Department of Clinical Pharmacology, Pharmacy and Environmental Medicine, University of Southern Denmark, 5000 Odense, Denmark;
| | - Valentina Rosolen
- Central Directorate for Health, Social Policies and Disability, Friuli Venezia Giulia Region, Via Cassa di Risparmio 10, 34121 Trieste, Italy;
| | - Vladimira Puklova
- Centre for Health and Environment, National Institute of Public Health, 100 00 Prague, Czech Republic; (N.V.); (V.P.)
| | - Wojciech Wasowicz
- Nofer Institute of Occupational Medicine, 91-348 Lodz, Poland; (B.J.); (W.W.)
| | - Ovnair Sepai
- UKHSA UK Health Security Agency, Harwell Science Park, Chilton OX11 0RQ, UK; (O.S.); (L.S.)
| | - Lorraine Stewart
- UKHSA UK Health Security Agency, Harwell Science Park, Chilton OX11 0RQ, UK; (O.S.); (L.S.)
| | - Marike Kolossa-Gehring
- Department of Toxicology, Health-Related Environmental Monitoring, German Environment Agency (UBA), 14195 Berlin, Germany; (K.P.); (N.V.); (P.S.); (R.L.); (T.W.)
| | - Marta Esteban-López
- National Centre for Environmental Health, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, 28220 Majadahonda, Spain; (M.E.-L.); (A.C.)
| | - Argelia Castaño
- National Centre for Environmental Health, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, 28220 Majadahonda, Spain; (M.E.-L.); (A.C.)
| | - Jos Bessems
- VITO Health, Flemish Institute for Technological Research (VITO), 2400 Mol, Belgium; (L.G.); (K.G.); (M.L.); (J.B.); (G.S.); (E.G.)
| | - Greet Schoeters
- VITO Health, Flemish Institute for Technological Research (VITO), 2400 Mol, Belgium; (L.G.); (K.G.); (M.L.); (J.B.); (G.S.); (E.G.)
- Toxicological Centre, University of Antwerp, Universiteitsplein 1, 2610 Antwerp, Belgium;
| | - Eva Govarts
- VITO Health, Flemish Institute for Technological Research (VITO), 2400 Mol, Belgium; (L.G.); (K.G.); (M.L.); (J.B.); (G.S.); (E.G.)
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Ketema RM, Kasper-Sonnenberg M, Ait Bamai Y, Miyashita C, Koch HM, Pälmke C, Kishi R, Ikeda A. Exposure Trends to the Non-phthalate Plasticizers DEHTP, DINCH, and DEHA in Children from 2012 to 2017: The Hokkaido Study. ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY 2023; 57:11926-11936. [PMID: 37506071 DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.3c03172] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 07/30/2023]
Abstract
Phthalates owing to their endocrine-disrupting effects are regulated in certain products, leading to their replacement with substitutions such as di-2-ethylhexyl terephthalate (DEHTP), 1,2-cyclohexane dicarboxylic acid di(isononyl) ester (DINCH), and di(2-ethylhexyl) adipate (DEHA). However, information on human exposure to these substitutes, especially in susceptible subpopulations such as children, is limited. Thus, we examined the levels and exposure trends of DEHTP, DINCH, and DEHA metabolites in 7 year-old Japanese school children. In total, 180 urine samples collected from 2012 to 2017 were used to quantify 10 DEHTP, DINCH, and DEHA metabolites via isotope dilution liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry. DEHTP and DINCH metabolites were detected in 95.6 and 92.2% of the children, respectively, and DEHA was not detected. This study, annually conducted between 2012 and 2017, revealed a significant (p < 0.05) 5-fold increase in DEHTP metabolites and a 2-fold increase in DINCH metabolites. However, the maximum estimated internal exposures were still below the health-based guidance and toxicological reference values. Exposure levels to DEHTP and DINCH have increased considerably in Japanese school children. DEHA is less relevant. Future studies are warranted to closely monitor the increasing trend in different aged and larger populations and identify the potential health effects and sources contributing to increasing exposure and intervene if necessary.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rahel Mesfin Ketema
- Center for Environmental and Health Sciences, Hokkaido University, North 12, West 7, Sapporo 060-0812, Japan
- Faculty of Health Sciences, Hokkaido University, North 12, West 5, Sapporo 060-0812, Japan
| | - Monika Kasper-Sonnenberg
- Institute for Prevention and Occupational Medicine of the German Social Accident Insurance, Institute of the Ruhr-University Bochum (IPA), Bürkle-de-la-Camp-Platz 1, Bochum 44789, Germany
| | - Yu Ait Bamai
- Center for Environmental and Health Sciences, Hokkaido University, North 12, West 7, Sapporo 060-0812, Japan
- Toxicological Center, University of Antwerp, Universiteitsplein 1, Wilrijk 2610, Belgium
| | - Chihiro Miyashita
- Center for Environmental and Health Sciences, Hokkaido University, North 12, West 7, Sapporo 060-0812, Japan
| | - Holger M Koch
- Institute for Prevention and Occupational Medicine of the German Social Accident Insurance, Institute of the Ruhr-University Bochum (IPA), Bürkle-de-la-Camp-Platz 1, Bochum 44789, Germany
| | - Claudia Pälmke
- Institute for Prevention and Occupational Medicine of the German Social Accident Insurance, Institute of the Ruhr-University Bochum (IPA), Bürkle-de-la-Camp-Platz 1, Bochum 44789, Germany
| | - Reiko Kishi
- Center for Environmental and Health Sciences, Hokkaido University, North 12, West 7, Sapporo 060-0812, Japan
| | - Atsuko Ikeda
- Center for Environmental and Health Sciences, Hokkaido University, North 12, West 7, Sapporo 060-0812, Japan
- Faculty of Health Sciences, Hokkaido University, North 12, West 5, Sapporo 060-0812, Japan
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9
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Schmied A, Marske L, Berger M, Kujath P, Weber T, Kolossa-Gehring M. Human biomonitoring of deoxynivalenol (DON) - Assessment of the exposure of young German adults from 1996 - 2021. Int J Hyg Environ Health 2023; 252:114198. [PMID: 37311395 PMCID: PMC10410250 DOI: 10.1016/j.ijheh.2023.114198] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/28/2023] [Revised: 04/17/2023] [Accepted: 05/30/2023] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
The mycotoxin deoxynivalenol (DON) is a frequently found contaminant in cereals and cereal-based products. As a German contribution to the European Joint Programme HBM4EU, we analysed the total DON concentration (tDON) in 24-h urine samples from the German Environmental Specimen Bank (ESB). In total, 360 samples collected in 1996, 2001, 2006, 2011, 2016, and 2021 from young adults in Muenster (Germany), were measured by high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS/MS) after enzymatic deconjugation of the glucuronide metabolites. tDON was found in concentrations above the lower limit of quantification (0.3 μg/L) in 99% of the samples. Medians of the measured concentrations and the daily excretion were 4.3 μg/L and 7.9 μg/24 h, respectively. For only nine participants, urinary tDON concentrations exceeded the provisional Human biomonitoring guidance value (HBM GV) of 23 μg/L. Urinary tDON concentrations were significantly higher for male participants. However, 24-h excretion values normalized to the participant's body weight did not exhibit any significant difference between males and females and the magnitude remained unchanged over the sampling years with exception of the sampling year 2001. Daily intakes were estimated from excretion values. Exceedance of the tolerable daily intake (TDI) of 1 μg/kg bw per day was observed for less than 1% of all participants. TDI exceedances were only present in the sampling year 2001 and not in more recent sampling years while exceedance of the HBM guidance value was also observed in 2011 and 2021.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andy Schmied
- Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (BAuA), Berlin, Germany.
| | - Lennart Marske
- Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (BAuA), Berlin, Germany
| | - Marion Berger
- Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (BAuA), Berlin, Germany
| | - Peter Kujath
- Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (BAuA), Berlin, Germany
| | - Till Weber
- German Environment Agency (UBA), Berlin, Germany
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10
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Morawska L, Salthammer T. A paradigm shift in cooperation between industry, legislation, and research to protect people and the environment. Int J Hyg Environ Health 2023; 251:114174. [PMID: 37116233 DOI: 10.1016/j.ijheh.2023.114174] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/21/2023] [Revised: 04/13/2023] [Accepted: 04/20/2023] [Indexed: 04/30/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Lidia Morawska
- International Laboratory for Air Quality & Health, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, 4000, Australia
| | - Tunga Salthammer
- Department of Material Analysis and Indoor Chemistry, Fraunhofer WKI, 38108, Braunschweig, Germany.
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11
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Bommarito PA, Stevens DR, Welch BM, Weller D, Meeker JD, Cantonwine DE, McElrath TF, Ferguson KK. Temporal trends and predictors of phthalate, phthalate replacement, and phenol biomarkers in the LIFECODES Fetal Growth Study. ENVIRONMENT INTERNATIONAL 2023; 174:107898. [PMID: 37001215 PMCID: PMC10133207 DOI: 10.1016/j.envint.2023.107898] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/07/2023] [Revised: 03/10/2023] [Accepted: 03/21/2023] [Indexed: 06/19/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Exposure to many phthalates and phenols is declining as replacements are introduced. There is little information on temporal trends or predictors of exposure to these newer compounds, such as phthalate replacements, especially among pregnant populations. OBJECTIVE Examine temporal trends and predictors of exposure to phthalates, phthalate replacements, and phenols using single- and multi-pollutant approaches. METHODS We analyzed data from 900 singleton pregnancies in the LIFECODES Fetal Growth Study, a nested case-cohort with recruitment from 2007 to 2018. We measured and averaged concentrations of 12 phthalate metabolites, four phthalate replacement metabolites, and 12 phenols in urine at three timepoints during pregnancy. We visualized and analyzed temporal trends and predictors of biomarker concentrations. To examine chemical mixtures, we derived clusters of individuals with shared exposure profiles using a finite mixture model and examined temporal trends and predictors of cluster assignment. RESULTS Exposure to phthalates and most phenols declined across the study period, while exposure to phthalate replacements (i.e., di(isononyl) cyclohexane-1,2-dicarboxylic acid, diisononyl ester [DINCH] and di-2-ethylhexyl terephthalate [DEHTP]) and bisphenol S (BPS) increased. For example, the sum of DEHTP biomarkers increased multiple orders of magnitude, with an average concentration of 0.92 ng/mL from 2007 to 2008 and 61.9 ng/mL in 2017-2018. Biomarkers of most chemical exposures varied across sociodemographic characteristics, with the highest concentrations observed in non-Hispanic Black or Hispanic participants relative to non-Hispanic White participants. We identified five clusters with shared exposure profiles and observed temporal trends in cluster membership. For example, at the end of the study period, a cluster characterized by high exposure to phthalate replacements was the most prevalent. SIGNIFICANCE In a large and well-characterized pregnancy cohort, we observed exposure to phthalate replacements and BPS increased over time while exposure to phthalates and other phenols decreased. Our results highlight the changing nature of exposure to consumer product chemical mixtures.
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Affiliation(s)
- P A Bommarito
- Epidemiology Branch, Division of Intramural Research, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, 111 T.W. Alexander Drive, Research Triangle Park, NC 27709, USA
| | - D R Stevens
- Epidemiology Branch, Division of Intramural Research, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, 111 T.W. Alexander Drive, Research Triangle Park, NC 27709, USA
| | - B M Welch
- Epidemiology Branch, Division of Intramural Research, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, 111 T.W. Alexander Drive, Research Triangle Park, NC 27709, USA; School of Public Health, University of Nevada, Reno, Reno, NV, USA
| | - D Weller
- NSF International, 789 N. Dixboro Road., Ann Arbor, MI 48105, USA
| | - J D Meeker
- Department of Environmental Health Sciences, University of Michigan School of Public Health, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
| | - D E Cantonwine
- Division of Maternal-Fetal Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, 75 Francis Street Boston, MA 02115, USA
| | - T F McElrath
- Division of Maternal-Fetal Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, 75 Francis Street Boston, MA 02115, USA
| | - K K Ferguson
- Epidemiology Branch, Division of Intramural Research, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, 111 T.W. Alexander Drive, Research Triangle Park, NC 27709, USA.
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Vogel N, Schmidt P, Lange R, Gerofke A, Sakhi AK, Haug LS, Jensen TK, Frederiksen H, Szigeti T, Csákó Z, Murinova LP, Sidlovska M, Janasik B, Wasowicz W, Tratnik JS, Mazej D, Gabriel C, Karakitsios S, Barbone F, Rosolen V, Rambaud L, Riou M, Murawski A, Leseman D, Koppen G, Covaci A, Lignell S, Lindroos AK, Zvonar M, Andryskova L, Fabelova L, Richterova D, Horvat M, Kosjek T, Sarigiannis D, Maroulis M, Pedraza-Diaz S, Cañas A, Verheyen VJ, Bastiaensen M, Gilles L, Schoeters G, Esteban-López M, Castaño A, Govarts E, Koch HM, Kolossa-Gehring M. Current exposure to phthalates and DINCH in European children and adolescents - Results from the HBM4EU Aligned Studies 2014 to 2021. Int J Hyg Environ Health 2023; 249:114101. [PMID: 36805185 DOI: 10.1016/j.ijheh.2022.114101] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/19/2022] [Revised: 12/02/2022] [Accepted: 12/08/2022] [Indexed: 02/19/2023]
Abstract
Phthalates are mainly used as plasticizers for polyvinyl chloride (PVC). Exposure to several phthalates is associated with different adverse effects most prominently on the development of reproductive functions. The HBM4EU Aligned Studies (2014-2021) have investigated current European exposure to ten phthalates (DEP, BBzP, DiBP, DnBP, DCHP, DnPeP, DEHP, DiNP, DiDP, DnOP) and the substitute DINCH to answer the open policy relevant questions which were defined by HBM4EU partner countries and EU institutions as the starting point of the programme. The exposure dataset includes ∼5,600 children (6-11 years) and adolescents (12-18 years) from up to 12 countries per age group and covering the North, East, South and West European regions. Study data from participating studies were harmonised with respect to sample size and selection of participants, selection of biomarkers, and quality and comparability of analytical results to provide a comparable perspective of European exposure. Phthalate and DINCH exposure were deduced from urinary excretions of metabolites, where concentrations were expressed as their key descriptor geometric mean (GM) and 95th percentile (P95). This study aims at reporting current exposure levels and differences in these between European studies and regions, as well as comparisons to human biomonitoring guidance values (HBM-GVs). GMs for children were highest for ∑DEHP metabolites (33.6 μg/L), MiBP (26.6 μg/L), and MEP (24.4 μg/L) and lowest for∑DiDP metabolites (1.91 μg/L) and ∑DINCH metabolites (3.57 μg/L). In adolescents highest GMs were found for MEP (43.3 μg/L), ∑DEHP metabolites (28.8 μg/L), and MiBP (25.6 μg/L) and lowest for ∑DiDP metabolites (= 2.02 μg/L) and ∑DINCH metabolites (2.51 μg/L). In addition, GMs and P95 stratified by European region, sex, household education level, and degree of urbanization are presented. Differences in average biomarker concentrations between sampling sites (data collections) ranged from factor 2 to 9. Compared to the European average, children in the sampling sites OCC (Denmark), InAirQ (Hungary), and SPECIMEn (The Netherlands) had the lowest concentrations across all metabolites and ESTEBAN (France), NAC II (Italy), and CROME (Greece) the highest. For adolescents, comparably higher metabolite concentrations were found in NEB II (Norway), PCB cohort (Slovakia), and ESTEBAN (France), and lower concentrations in POLAES (Poland), FLEHS IV (Belgium), and GerES V-sub (Germany). Multivariate analyses (Survey Generalized Linear Models) indicate compound-specific differences in average metabolite concentrations between the four European regions. Comparison of individual levels with HBM-GVs revealed highest rates of exceedances for DnBP and DiBP, with up to 3 and 5%, respectively, in children and adolescents. No exceedances were observed for DEP and DINCH. With our results we provide current, detailed, and comparable data on exposure to phthalates in children and - for the first time - in adolescents, and - for the first time - on DINCH in children and adolescents of all four regions of Europe which are particularly suited to inform exposure and risk assessment and answer open policy relevant questions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nina Vogel
- German Environment Agency (UBA), Berlin, Germany.
| | | | - Rosa Lange
- German Environment Agency (UBA), Berlin, Germany
| | | | | | - Line S Haug
- Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Oslo, Norway
| | - Tina Kold Jensen
- IST - Clinical Pharmacology, Pharmacy and Environmental Medicine, Odense, Denmark
| | - Hanne Frederiksen
- Department of Growth and Reproduction, Copenhagen University Hospital - Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen, Denmark; International Center for Research and Research Training in Endocrine Disruption of Male Reproduction and Child Health (EDMaRC), Copenhagen University Hospital - Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | | | - Zsófia Csákó
- National Public Health Center, Budapest, Hungary
| | | | | | - Beata Janasik
- Nofer Institute of Occupational Medicine, Lodz, Poland
| | | | - Janja Snoj Tratnik
- Jozef Stefan Institute, Department of Environmental Sciences, Ljubljana, Slovenia
| | - Darja Mazej
- Jozef Stefan Institute, Department of Environmental Sciences, Ljubljana, Slovenia
| | - Catherine Gabriel
- Environmental Engineering Laboratory, Department of Chemical Engineering, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece; HERACLES Research Center on the Exposome and Health, Center for Interdisciplinary Research and Innovation, Thessaloniki-Thermi, Greece
| | - Spyros Karakitsios
- Environmental Engineering Laboratory, Department of Chemical Engineering, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece; HERACLES Research Center on the Exposome and Health, Center for Interdisciplinary Research and Innovation, Thessaloniki-Thermi, Greece
| | - Fabio Barbone
- Department of Medicine-DAME, University of Udine, Udine, Italy
| | - Valentina Rosolen
- Institute for Maternal and Child Health - IRCCS "Burlo Garofolo", Trieste, Italy
| | - Loïc Rambaud
- Santé publique France, Environmental and Occupational Health Division, Saint-Maurice, France
| | - Margaux Riou
- Santé publique France, Environmental and Occupational Health Division, Saint-Maurice, France
| | | | - Daan Leseman
- National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM), Bilthoven, the Netherlands
| | - Gudrun Koppen
- VITO Health, Flemish Institute for Technological Research (VITO), Mol, Belgium
| | - Adrian Covaci
- Toxicological Center, University of Antwerp, Wilrijk, Belgium
| | | | | | - Martin Zvonar
- RECETOX, Faculty of Science, Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic
| | - Lenka Andryskova
- RECETOX, Faculty of Science, Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic
| | - Lucia Fabelova
- Slovak Medical University, Faculty of Public Health, Bratislava, Slovakia
| | - Denisa Richterova
- Slovak Medical University, Faculty of Public Health, Bratislava, Slovakia
| | - Milena Horvat
- Jozef Stefan Institute, Department of Environmental Sciences, Ljubljana, Slovenia
| | - Tina Kosjek
- Jozef Stefan Institute, Department of Environmental Sciences, Ljubljana, Slovenia
| | - Denis Sarigiannis
- Environmental Engineering Laboratory, Department of Chemical Engineering, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece; HERACLES Research Center on the Exposome and Health, Center for Interdisciplinary Research and Innovation, Thessaloniki-Thermi, Greece; Environmental Health Engineering, Institute of Advanced Study, Pavia, Italy
| | - Marios Maroulis
- Environmental Engineering Laboratory, Department of Chemical Engineering, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece; HERACLES Research Center on the Exposome and Health, Center for Interdisciplinary Research and Innovation, Thessaloniki-Thermi, Greece
| | - Susana Pedraza-Diaz
- National Centre for Environmental Health, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Majadahonda, Madrid, Spain
| | - Ana Cañas
- National Centre for Environmental Health, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Majadahonda, Madrid, Spain
| | - Veerle J Verheyen
- VITO Health, Flemish Institute for Technological Research (VITO), Mol, Belgium
| | | | - Liese Gilles
- VITO Health, Flemish Institute for Technological Research (VITO), Mol, Belgium
| | - Greet Schoeters
- VITO Health, Flemish Institute for Technological Research (VITO), Mol, Belgium; University of Antwerp, Dept of Biomedical Sciences and Toxicological Centre, Antwerp, Belgium
| | - Marta Esteban-López
- National Centre for Environmental Health, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Majadahonda, Madrid, Spain
| | - Argelia Castaño
- National Centre for Environmental Health, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Majadahonda, Madrid, Spain
| | - Eva Govarts
- VITO Health, Flemish Institute for Technological Research (VITO), Mol, Belgium
| | - Holger M Koch
- Institute for Prevention and Occupational Medicine of the German Social Accident Insurance, Institute of the Ruhr University Bochum (IPA), Bochum, Germany
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Landrigan PJ, Raps H, Cropper M, Bald C, Brunner M, Canonizado EM, Charles D, Chiles TC, Donohue MJ, Enck J, Fenichel P, Fleming LE, Ferrier-Pages C, Fordham R, Gozt A, Griffin C, Hahn ME, Haryanto B, Hixson R, Ianelli H, James BD, Kumar P, Laborde A, Law KL, Martin K, Mu J, Mulders Y, Mustapha A, Niu J, Pahl S, Park Y, Pedrotti ML, Pitt JA, Ruchirawat M, Seewoo BJ, Spring M, Stegeman JJ, Suk W, Symeonides C, Takada H, Thompson RC, Vicini A, Wang Z, Whitman E, Wirth D, Wolff M, Yousuf AK, Dunlop S. The Minderoo-Monaco Commission on Plastics and Human Health. Ann Glob Health 2023; 89:23. [PMID: 36969097 PMCID: PMC10038118 DOI: 10.5334/aogh.4056] [Citation(s) in RCA: 53] [Impact Index Per Article: 53.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/14/2023] [Accepted: 02/14/2023] [Indexed: 03/29/2023] Open
Abstract
Background Plastics have conveyed great benefits to humanity and made possible some of the most significant advances of modern civilization in fields as diverse as medicine, electronics, aerospace, construction, food packaging, and sports. It is now clear, however, that plastics are also responsible for significant harms to human health, the economy, and the earth's environment. These harms occur at every stage of the plastic life cycle, from extraction of the coal, oil, and gas that are its main feedstocks through to ultimate disposal into the environment. The extent of these harms not been systematically assessed, their magnitude not fully quantified, and their economic costs not comprehensively counted. Goals The goals of this Minderoo-Monaco Commission on Plastics and Human Health are to comprehensively examine plastics' impacts across their life cycle on: (1) human health and well-being; (2) the global environment, especially the ocean; (3) the economy; and (4) vulnerable populations-the poor, minorities, and the world's children. On the basis of this examination, the Commission offers science-based recommendations designed to support development of a Global Plastics Treaty, protect human health, and save lives. Report Structure This Commission report contains seven Sections. Following an Introduction, Section 2 presents a narrative review of the processes involved in plastic production, use, and disposal and notes the hazards to human health and the environment associated with each of these stages. Section 3 describes plastics' impacts on the ocean and notes the potential for plastic in the ocean to enter the marine food web and result in human exposure. Section 4 details plastics' impacts on human health. Section 5 presents a first-order estimate of plastics' health-related economic costs. Section 6 examines the intersection between plastic, social inequity, and environmental injustice. Section 7 presents the Commission's findings and recommendations. Plastics Plastics are complex, highly heterogeneous, synthetic chemical materials. Over 98% of plastics are produced from fossil carbon- coal, oil and gas. Plastics are comprised of a carbon-based polymer backbone and thousands of additional chemicals that are incorporated into polymers to convey specific properties such as color, flexibility, stability, water repellence, flame retardation, and ultraviolet resistance. Many of these added chemicals are highly toxic. They include carcinogens, neurotoxicants and endocrine disruptors such as phthalates, bisphenols, per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), brominated flame retardants, and organophosphate flame retardants. They are integral components of plastic and are responsible for many of plastics' harms to human health and the environment.Global plastic production has increased almost exponentially since World War II, and in this time more than 8,300 megatons (Mt) of plastic have been manufactured. Annual production volume has grown from under 2 Mt in 1950 to 460 Mt in 2019, a 230-fold increase, and is on track to triple by 2060. More than half of all plastic ever made has been produced since 2002. Single-use plastics account for 35-40% of current plastic production and represent the most rapidly growing segment of plastic manufacture.Explosive recent growth in plastics production reflects a deliberate pivot by the integrated multinational fossil-carbon corporations that produce coal, oil and gas and that also manufacture plastics. These corporations are reducing their production of fossil fuels and increasing plastics manufacture. The two principal factors responsible for this pivot are decreasing global demand for carbon-based fuels due to increases in 'green' energy, and massive expansion of oil and gas production due to fracking.Plastic manufacture is energy-intensive and contributes significantly to climate change. At present, plastic production is responsible for an estimated 3.7% of global greenhouse gas emissions, more than the contribution of Brazil. This fraction is projected to increase to 4.5% by 2060 if current trends continue unchecked. Plastic Life Cycle The plastic life cycle has three phases: production, use, and disposal. In production, carbon feedstocks-coal, gas, and oil-are transformed through energy-intensive, catalytic processes into a vast array of products. Plastic use occurs in every aspect of modern life and results in widespread human exposure to the chemicals contained in plastic. Single-use plastics constitute the largest portion of current use, followed by synthetic fibers and construction.Plastic disposal is highly inefficient, with recovery and recycling rates below 10% globally. The result is that an estimated 22 Mt of plastic waste enters the environment each year, much of it single-use plastic and are added to the more than 6 gigatons of plastic waste that have accumulated since 1950. Strategies for disposal of plastic waste include controlled and uncontrolled landfilling, open burning, thermal conversion, and export. Vast quantities of plastic waste are exported each year from high-income to low-income countries, where it accumulates in landfills, pollutes air and water, degrades vital ecosystems, befouls beaches and estuaries, and harms human health-environmental injustice on a global scale. Plastic-laden e-waste is particularly problematic. Environmental Findings Plastics and plastic-associated chemicals are responsible for widespread pollution. They contaminate aquatic (marine and freshwater), terrestrial, and atmospheric environments globally. The ocean is the ultimate destination for much plastic, and plastics are found throughout the ocean, including coastal regions, the sea surface, the deep sea, and polar sea ice. Many plastics appear to resist breakdown in the ocean and could persist in the global environment for decades. Macro- and micro-plastic particles have been identified in hundreds of marine species in all major taxa, including species consumed by humans. Trophic transfer of microplastic particles and the chemicals within them has been demonstrated. Although microplastic particles themselves (>10 µm) appear not to undergo biomagnification, hydrophobic plastic-associated chemicals bioaccumulate in marine animals and biomagnify in marine food webs. The amounts and fates of smaller microplastic and nanoplastic particles (MNPs <10 µm) in aquatic environments are poorly understood, but the potential for harm is worrying given their mobility in biological systems. Adverse environmental impacts of plastic pollution occur at multiple levels from molecular and biochemical to population and ecosystem. MNP contamination of seafood results in direct, though not well quantified, human exposure to plastics and plastic-associated chemicals. Marine plastic pollution endangers the ocean ecosystems upon which all humanity depends for food, oxygen, livelihood, and well-being. Human Health Findings Coal miners, oil workers and gas field workers who extract fossil carbon feedstocks for plastic production suffer increased mortality from traumatic injury, coal workers' pneumoconiosis, silicosis, cardiovascular disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and lung cancer. Plastic production workers are at increased risk of leukemia, lymphoma, hepatic angiosarcoma, brain cancer, breast cancer, mesothelioma, neurotoxic injury, and decreased fertility. Workers producing plastic textiles die of bladder cancer, lung cancer, mesothelioma, and interstitial lung disease at increased rates. Plastic recycling workers have increased rates of cardiovascular disease, toxic metal poisoning, neuropathy, and lung cancer. Residents of "fenceline" communities adjacent to plastic production and waste disposal sites experience increased risks of premature birth, low birth weight, asthma, childhood leukemia, cardiovascular disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and lung cancer.During use and also in disposal, plastics release toxic chemicals including additives and residual monomers into the environment and into people. National biomonitoring surveys in the USA document population-wide exposures to these chemicals. Plastic additives disrupt endocrine function and increase risk for premature births, neurodevelopmental disorders, male reproductive birth defects, infertility, obesity, cardiovascular disease, renal disease, and cancers. Chemical-laden MNPs formed through the environmental degradation of plastic waste can enter living organisms, including humans. Emerging, albeit still incomplete evidence indicates that MNPs may cause toxicity due to their physical and toxicological effects as well as by acting as vectors that transport toxic chemicals and bacterial pathogens into tissues and cells.Infants in the womb and young children are two populations at particularly high risk of plastic-related health effects. Because of the exquisite sensitivity of early development to hazardous chemicals and children's unique patterns of exposure, plastic-associated exposures are linked to increased risks of prematurity, stillbirth, low birth weight, birth defects of the reproductive organs, neurodevelopmental impairment, impaired lung growth, and childhood cancer. Early-life exposures to plastic-associated chemicals also increase the risk of multiple non-communicable diseases later in life. Economic Findings Plastic's harms to human health result in significant economic costs. We estimate that in 2015 the health-related costs of plastic production exceeded $250 billion (2015 Int$) globally, and that in the USA alone the health costs of disease and disability caused by the plastic-associated chemicals PBDE, BPA and DEHP exceeded $920 billion (2015 Int$). Plastic production results in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions equivalent to 1.96 gigatons of carbon dioxide (CO2e) annually. Using the US Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) social cost of carbon metric, we estimate the annual costs of these GHG emissions to be $341 billion (2015 Int$).These costs, large as they are, almost certainly underestimate the full economic losses resulting from plastics' negative impacts on human health and the global environment. All of plastics' economic costs-and also its social costs-are externalized by the petrochemical and plastic manufacturing industry and are borne by citizens, taxpayers, and governments in countries around the world without compensation. Social Justice Findings The adverse effects of plastics and plastic pollution on human health, the economy and the environment are not evenly distributed. They disproportionately affect poor, disempowered, and marginalized populations such as workers, racial and ethnic minorities, "fenceline" communities, Indigenous groups, women, and children, all of whom had little to do with creating the current plastics crisis and lack the political influence or the resources to address it. Plastics' harmful impacts across its life cycle are most keenly felt in the Global South, in small island states, and in disenfranchised areas in the Global North. Social and environmental justice (SEJ) principles require reversal of these inequitable burdens to ensure that no group bears a disproportionate share of plastics' negative impacts and that those who benefit economically from plastic bear their fair share of its currently externalized costs. Conclusions It is now clear that current patterns of plastic production, use, and disposal are not sustainable and are responsible for significant harms to human health, the environment, and the economy as well as for deep societal injustices.The main driver of these worsening harms is an almost exponential and still accelerating increase in global plastic production. Plastics' harms are further magnified by low rates of recovery and recycling and by the long persistence of plastic waste in the environment.The thousands of chemicals in plastics-monomers, additives, processing agents, and non-intentionally added substances-include amongst their number known human carcinogens, endocrine disruptors, neurotoxicants, and persistent organic pollutants. These chemicals are responsible for many of plastics' known harms to human and planetary health. The chemicals leach out of plastics, enter the environment, cause pollution, and result in human exposure and disease. All efforts to reduce plastics' hazards must address the hazards of plastic-associated chemicals. Recommendations To protect human and planetary health, especially the health of vulnerable and at-risk populations, and put the world on track to end plastic pollution by 2040, this Commission supports urgent adoption by the world's nations of a strong and comprehensive Global Plastics Treaty in accord with the mandate set forth in the March 2022 resolution of the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA).International measures such as a Global Plastics Treaty are needed to curb plastic production and pollution, because the harms to human health and the environment caused by plastics, plastic-associated chemicals and plastic waste transcend national boundaries, are planetary in their scale, and have disproportionate impacts on the health and well-being of people in the world's poorest nations. Effective implementation of the Global Plastics Treaty will require that international action be coordinated and complemented by interventions at the national, regional, and local levels.This Commission urges that a cap on global plastic production with targets, timetables, and national contributions be a central provision of the Global Plastics Treaty. We recommend inclusion of the following additional provisions:The Treaty needs to extend beyond microplastics and marine litter to include all of the many thousands of chemicals incorporated into plastics.The Treaty needs to include a provision banning or severely restricting manufacture and use of unnecessary, avoidable, and problematic plastic items, especially single-use items such as manufactured plastic microbeads.The Treaty needs to include requirements on extended producer responsibility (EPR) that make fossil carbon producers, plastic producers, and the manufacturers of plastic products legally and financially responsible for the safety and end-of-life management of all the materials they produce and sell.The Treaty needs to mandate reductions in the chemical complexity of plastic products; health-protective standards for plastics and plastic additives; a requirement for use of sustainable non-toxic materials; full disclosure of all components; and traceability of components. International cooperation will be essential to implementing and enforcing these standards.The Treaty needs to include SEJ remedies at each stage of the plastic life cycle designed to fill gaps in community knowledge and advance both distributional and procedural equity.This Commission encourages inclusion in the Global Plastic Treaty of a provision calling for exploration of listing at least some plastic polymers as persistent organic pollutants (POPs) under the Stockholm Convention.This Commission encourages a strong interface between the Global Plastics Treaty and the Basel and London Conventions to enhance management of hazardous plastic waste and slow current massive exports of plastic waste into the world's least-developed countries.This Commission recommends the creation of a Permanent Science Policy Advisory Body to guide the Treaty's implementation. The main priorities of this Body would be to guide Member States and other stakeholders in evaluating which solutions are most effective in reducing plastic consumption, enhancing plastic waste recovery and recycling, and curbing the generation of plastic waste. This Body could also assess trade-offs among these solutions and evaluate safer alternatives to current plastics. It could monitor the transnational export of plastic waste. It could coordinate robust oceanic-, land-, and air-based MNP monitoring programs.This Commission recommends urgent investment by national governments in research into solutions to the global plastic crisis. This research will need to determine which solutions are most effective and cost-effective in the context of particular countries and assess the risks and benefits of proposed solutions. Oceanographic and environmental research is needed to better measure concentrations and impacts of plastics <10 µm and understand their distribution and fate in the global environment. Biomedical research is needed to elucidate the human health impacts of plastics, especially MNPs. Summary This Commission finds that plastics are both a boon to humanity and a stealth threat to human and planetary health. Plastics convey enormous benefits, but current linear patterns of plastic production, use, and disposal that pay little attention to sustainable design or safe materials and a near absence of recovery, reuse, and recycling are responsible for grave harms to health, widespread environmental damage, great economic costs, and deep societal injustices. These harms are rapidly worsening.While there remain gaps in knowledge about plastics' harms and uncertainties about their full magnitude, the evidence available today demonstrates unequivocally that these impacts are great and that they will increase in severity in the absence of urgent and effective intervention at global scale. Manufacture and use of essential plastics may continue. However, reckless increases in plastic production, and especially increases in the manufacture of an ever-increasing array of unnecessary single-use plastic products, need to be curbed.Global intervention against the plastic crisis is needed now because the costs of failure to act will be immense.
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Affiliation(s)
- Philip J. Landrigan
- Global Observatory on Planetary Health, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA, US
- Centre Scientifique de Monaco, Medical Biology Department, MC
| | - Hervé Raps
- Centre Scientifique de Monaco, Medical Biology Department, MC
| | - Maureen Cropper
- Economics Department, University of Maryland, College Park, US
| | - Caroline Bald
- Global Observatory on Planetary Health, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA, US
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | - Patrick Fenichel
- Université Côte d’Azur
- Centre Hospitalier, Universitaire de Nice, FR
| | - Lora E. Fleming
- European Centre for Environment and Human Health, University of Exeter Medical School, UK
| | | | | | | | - Carly Griffin
- Global Observatory on Planetary Health, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA, US
| | - Mark E. Hahn
- Biology Department, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, US
- Woods Hole Center for Oceans and Human Health, US
| | - Budi Haryanto
- Department of Environmental Health, Universitas Indonesia, ID
- Research Center for Climate Change, Universitas Indonesia, ID
| | - Richard Hixson
- College of Medicine and Health, University of Exeter, UK
| | - Hannah Ianelli
- Global Observatory on Planetary Health, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA, US
| | - Bryan D. James
- Department of Marine Chemistry and Geochemistry, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
- Department of Biology, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, US
| | | | - Amalia Laborde
- Department of Toxicology, School of Medicine, University of the Republic, UY
| | | | - Keith Martin
- Consortium of Universities for Global Health, US
| | - Jenna Mu
- Global Observatory on Planetary Health, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA, US
| | | | - Adetoun Mustapha
- Nigerian Institute of Medical Research, Lagos, Nigeria
- Lead City University, NG
| | - Jia Niu
- Department of Chemistry, Boston College, US
| | - Sabine Pahl
- University of Vienna, Austria
- University of Plymouth, UK
| | | | - Maria-Luiza Pedrotti
- Laboratoire d’Océanographie de Villefranche sur mer (LOV), Sorbonne Université, FR
| | | | | | - Bhedita Jaya Seewoo
- Minderoo Foundation, AU
- School of Biological Sciences, The University of Western Australia, AU
| | | | - John J. Stegeman
- Biology Department and Woods Hole Center for Oceans and Human Health, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, US
| | - William Suk
- Superfund Research Program, National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, US
| | | | - Hideshige Takada
- Laboratory of Organic Geochemistry (LOG), Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, JP
| | | | | | - Zhanyun Wang
- Technology and Society Laboratory, WEmpa-Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials and Technology, CH
| | - Ella Whitman
- Global Observatory on Planetary Health, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA, US
| | | | | | - Aroub K. Yousuf
- Global Observatory on Planetary Health, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA, US
| | - Sarah Dunlop
- Minderoo Foundation, AU
- School of Biological Sciences, The University of Western Australia, AU
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Vogel N, Lange R, Schmidt P, Rodriguez Martin L, Remy S, Springer A, Puklová V, Černá M, Rudnai P, Középesy S, Janasik B, Ligocka D, Fábelová L, Kolena B, Petrovicova I, Jajcaj M, Eštóková M, Esteban-Lopez M, Castaño A, Tratnik JS, Stajnko A, Knudsen LE, Toppari J, Main KM, Juul A, Andersson AM, Jørgensen N, Frederiksen H, Thomsen C, Sakhi AK, Åkesson A, Hartmann C, Dewolf MC, Koppen G, Biot P, Den Hond E, Voorspoels S, Gilles L, Govarts E, Murawski A, Gerofke A, Weber T, Rüther M, Gutleb AC, Guignard C, Berman T, Koch HM, Kolossa-Gehring M. Exposure to Phthalates in European Children, Adolescents and Adults since 2005: A Harmonized Approach Based on Existing HBM Data in the HBM4EU Initiative. TOXICS 2023; 11:241. [PMID: 36977006 PMCID: PMC10057641 DOI: 10.3390/toxics11030241] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/29/2022] [Revised: 02/10/2023] [Accepted: 02/14/2023] [Indexed: 06/18/2023]
Abstract
Phthalates are mainly used as plasticizers and are associated inter alia with adverse effects on reproductive functions. While more and more national programs in Europe have started monitoring internal exposure to phthalates and its substitute 1,2-Cyclohexanedicarboxylic acid (DINCH), the comparability of results from such existing human biomonitoring (HBM) studies across Europe is challenging. They differ widely in time periods, study samples, degree of geographical coverage, design, analytical methodology, biomarker selection, and analytical quality assurance level. The HBM4EU initiative has gathered existing HBM data of 29 studies from participating countries, covering all European regions and Israel. The data were prepared and aggregated by a harmonized procedure with the aim to describe-as comparably as possible-the EU-wide general population's internal exposure to phthalates from the years 2005 to 2019. Most data were available from Northern (up to 6 studies and up to 13 time points), Western (11; 19), and Eastern Europe (9; 12), e.g., allowing for the investigation of time patterns. While the bandwidth of exposure was generally similar, we still observed regional differences for Butyl benzyl phthalate (BBzP), Di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP), Di-isononyl phthalate (DiNP), and Di-isobutyl phthalate (DiBP) with pronounced decreases over time in Northern and Western Europe, and to a lesser degree in Eastern Europe. Differences between age groups were visible for Di-n-butyl phthalate (DnBP), where children (3 to 5-year olds and 6 to 11-year olds) had lower urinary concentrations than adolescents (12 to 19-year-olds), who in turn had lower urinary concentrations than adults (20 to 39-year-olds). This study is a step towards making internal exposures to phthalates comparable across countries, although standardized data were not available, targeting European data sets harmonized with respect to data formatting and calculation of aggregated data (such as developed within HBM4EU), and highlights further suggestions for improved harmonization in future studies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nina Vogel
- German Environment Agency (UBA), Department of Toxicology, Health-Related Environmental Monitoring, 14195 Berlin, Germany
| | - Rosa Lange
- German Environment Agency (UBA), Department of Toxicology, Health-Related Environmental Monitoring, 14195 Berlin, Germany
| | - Phillipp Schmidt
- German Environment Agency (UBA), Department of Toxicology, Health-Related Environmental Monitoring, 14195 Berlin, Germany
| | | | - Sylvie Remy
- Flemish Institute for Technological Research (VITO), 2400 Mol, Belgium
| | - Andrea Springer
- German Environment Agency (UBA), Department of Toxicology, Health-Related Environmental Monitoring, 14195 Berlin, Germany
| | - Vladimíra Puklová
- National Institute of Public Health, Centre for Health and Environment, 10000 Prague, Czech Republic
| | - Milena Černá
- National Institute of Public Health, Centre for Health and Environment, 10000 Prague, Czech Republic
| | - Péter Rudnai
- National Public Health Center, Environmental Health Unit of the Department of Public Health Laboratory, 1097 Budapest, Hungary
| | - Szilvia Középesy
- National Public Health Center, Environmental Health Unit of the Department of Public Health Laboratory, 1097 Budapest, Hungary
| | - Beata Janasik
- Nofer Institute of Occupational Medicine, 91-348 Lodz, Poland
| | - Danuta Ligocka
- Nofer Institute of Occupational Medicine, 91-348 Lodz, Poland
| | - Lucia Fábelová
- Department of Environmental Medicine, Faculty of Public Health, Slovak Medical University, 83303 Bratislava, Slovakia
| | - Branislav Kolena
- Department of Zoology and Anthropology, Faculty of Natural Sciences and Informatics, Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra, 94901 Nitra, Slovakia
| | - Ida Petrovicova
- Department of Zoology and Anthropology, Faculty of Natural Sciences and Informatics, Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra, 94901 Nitra, Slovakia
| | - Michal Jajcaj
- Public Health Authority, Department of Environment and Health, 83105 Bratislava, Slovakia
| | - Milada Eštóková
- Public Health Authority, Department of Environment and Health, 83105 Bratislava, Slovakia
| | | | | | - Janja Snoj Tratnik
- Department of Environmental Sciences, Jožef Stefan Institute, Jamova Cesta 39, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia
| | - Anja Stajnko
- Department of Environmental Sciences, Jožef Stefan Institute, Jamova Cesta 39, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia
| | - Lisbeth E. Knudsen
- Department of Public Health, University of Copenhagen, 1165 Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Jorma Toppari
- Research Centre for Integrative Physiology and Pharmacology, Institute of Biomedicine, University of Turku, 20520 Turku, Finland
- Department of Pediatrics, Turku University Hospital, 20521 Turku, Finland
| | - Katharina M. Main
- Department of Growth and Reproduction, Copenhagen University Hospital—Rigshospitalet, 2100 Copenhagen, Denmark
- International Centre for Research and Research Training in Endocrine Disruption of Male Reproduction and Child Health (EDMaRC), Copenhagen University Hospital—Rigshospitalet, 2100 Copenhagen, Denmark
- Department of Clinical Medicine, University of Copenhagen, 2200 Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Anders Juul
- Department of Growth and Reproduction, Copenhagen University Hospital—Rigshospitalet, 2100 Copenhagen, Denmark
- International Centre for Research and Research Training in Endocrine Disruption of Male Reproduction and Child Health (EDMaRC), Copenhagen University Hospital—Rigshospitalet, 2100 Copenhagen, Denmark
- Department of Clinical Medicine, University of Copenhagen, 2200 Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Anna-Maria Andersson
- Department of Growth and Reproduction, Copenhagen University Hospital—Rigshospitalet, 2100 Copenhagen, Denmark
- International Centre for Research and Research Training in Endocrine Disruption of Male Reproduction and Child Health (EDMaRC), Copenhagen University Hospital—Rigshospitalet, 2100 Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Niels Jørgensen
- Department of Growth and Reproduction, Copenhagen University Hospital—Rigshospitalet, 2100 Copenhagen, Denmark
- International Centre for Research and Research Training in Endocrine Disruption of Male Reproduction and Child Health (EDMaRC), Copenhagen University Hospital—Rigshospitalet, 2100 Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Hanne Frederiksen
- Department of Growth and Reproduction, Copenhagen University Hospital—Rigshospitalet, 2100 Copenhagen, Denmark
- International Centre for Research and Research Training in Endocrine Disruption of Male Reproduction and Child Health (EDMaRC), Copenhagen University Hospital—Rigshospitalet, 2100 Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Cathrine Thomsen
- Department of Food Safety, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, 0456 Oslo, Norway
| | - Amrit Kaur Sakhi
- Department of Food Safety, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, 0456 Oslo, Norway
| | - Agneta Åkesson
- Institute of Environmental Medicine, Karolinska Institutet, 171 77 Stockholm, Sweden
| | | | | | - Gudrun Koppen
- Flemish Institute for Technological Research (VITO), 2400 Mol, Belgium
| | - Pierre Biot
- Federal Public Service Health, Food Chain Safety and Environment, 1060 Brussels, Belgium
| | - Elly Den Hond
- Department of Environment and Health, Provincial Institute of Hygiene (PIH), 2000 Antwerp, Belgium
| | - Stefan Voorspoels
- Flemish Institute for Technological Research (VITO), 2400 Mol, Belgium
| | - Liese Gilles
- Flemish Institute for Technological Research (VITO), 2400 Mol, Belgium
| | - Eva Govarts
- Flemish Institute for Technological Research (VITO), 2400 Mol, Belgium
| | - Aline Murawski
- German Environment Agency (UBA), Department of Toxicology, Health-Related Environmental Monitoring, 14195 Berlin, Germany
| | - Antje Gerofke
- German Environment Agency (UBA), Department of Toxicology, Health-Related Environmental Monitoring, 14195 Berlin, Germany
| | - Till Weber
- German Environment Agency (UBA), Department of Toxicology, Health-Related Environmental Monitoring, 14195 Berlin, Germany
| | - Maria Rüther
- German Environment Agency (UBA), Department of Toxicology, Health-Related Environmental Monitoring, 14195 Berlin, Germany
| | - Arno C. Gutleb
- Environmental Research and Innovation (ERIN) Department, Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology, L-4422 Belvaux, Luxembourg
| | - Cedric Guignard
- Environmental Research and Innovation (ERIN) Department, Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology, L-4422 Belvaux, Luxembourg
| | - Tamar Berman
- Department of Environmental Health, Ministry of Health, Jerusalem 9446724, Israel
| | - Holger M. Koch
- Institute for Prevention and Occupational Medicine of the German Social Accident Insurance—Institute of the Ruhr University Bochum (IPA), 44789 Bochum, Germany
| | - Marike Kolossa-Gehring
- German Environment Agency (UBA), Department of Toxicology, Health-Related Environmental Monitoring, 14195 Berlin, Germany
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15
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Useini A, Engelberger F, Künze G, Sträter N. Structural basis of the activation of PPARγ by the plasticizer metabolites MEHP and MINCH. ENVIRONMENT INTERNATIONAL 2023; 173:107822. [PMID: 36841188 DOI: 10.1016/j.envint.2023.107822] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/14/2022] [Revised: 01/20/2023] [Accepted: 02/11/2023] [Indexed: 06/18/2023]
Abstract
Di-2-ethylhexyl phthalate (DEHP) and its substitute 1,2-cyclohexane dicarboxylic acid diisononyl ester (DINCH) are widely used as plasticizers but may have adverse health effects. Via hydrolysis of one of the two ester bonds in the human body, DEHP and DINCH form the monoesters MEHP and MINCH, respectively. Previous studies demonstrated binding of these metabolites to PPARγ and the induction of adipogenesis via this pathway. Detailed structural understanding of how these metabolites interact with PPARγ and thereby affect human health is lacking until now. We therefore characterized the binding modes of MINCH and MEHP to the ligand binding domain of PPARγ by X-ray crystallography and molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. Both compounds bind to the activating function-2 (AF-2) binding site via an interaction of the free carboxylates with the histidines 323 and 449, tyrosine 473 and serine 289. The alkyl chains form hydrophobic interactions with the tunnel next to cysteine 285. These binding modes are generally stable as demonstrated by the MD simulations and they resemble the complexation of fatty acids and their metabolites to the AF-2 site of PPARγ. Similar to the situation for these natural PPARγ agonists, the interaction of the free carboxylate groups of MEHP and MINCH with tyrosine 473 and surrounding residues stabilizes the AF-2 helix in the upward conformation. This state promotes binding of coactivator proteins and thus formation of the active complex for transcription of the specific target genes. Moreover, a comparison of the residues involved in binding of the plasticizer metabolites in vertebrate PPARγ orthologs shows that these compounds likely have similar effects in other species.
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Affiliation(s)
- Abibe Useini
- Institute of Bioanalytical Chemistry, Centre for Biotechnology and Biomedicine, Leipzig University, Deutscher Platz 5, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
| | - Felipe Engelberger
- Institute for Drug Discovery, Leipzig University, Brüderstraße 34, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
| | - Georg Künze
- Institute for Drug Discovery, Leipzig University, Brüderstraße 34, 04103 Leipzig, Germany.
| | - Norbert Sträter
- Institute of Bioanalytical Chemistry, Centre for Biotechnology and Biomedicine, Leipzig University, Deutscher Platz 5, 04103 Leipzig, Germany.
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16
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Vogel N, Frederiksen H, Lange R, Jørgensen N, Koch HM, Weber T, Andersson AM, Kolossa-Gehring M. Urinary excretion of phthalates and the substitutes DINCH and DEHTP in Danish young men and German young adults between 2000 and 2017 - A time trend analysis. Int J Hyg Environ Health 2023; 248:114080. [PMID: 36657282 DOI: 10.1016/j.ijheh.2022.114080] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/12/2022] [Revised: 11/23/2022] [Accepted: 11/24/2022] [Indexed: 01/18/2023]
Abstract
Over the last twenty-five years it has become evident that exposure to several phthalates can have adverse effects on human health, such as endocrine disruption. This led to a series of EU regulations that resulted in a decrease in the production volumes of the restricted phthalates and an increased production of substitutes. The current study describes the impact of regulations and changes in production and use of phthalates and their substitutes on internal exposure patterns in two European populations since the beginning of the 2000'ies. Using harmonised data from young adults in Denmark (Danish Young Men Study, n = 1,063, spot urine) and Germany (Environmental Specimen Bank, n = 878, 24-h urine) with repeated cross-sectional design (3-11 cycles per biomarker) we applied Locally Estimated Scatterplot Smoothing (LOESS) and Generalized Linear Models (GLMs) to estimate time trends and the role of covariates on the trend (e.g. age, BMI). Time trends of daily excretion (μg/24h) are comparable between the two samples for the regulated (DEHP, BBzP, DiNP, DnBP, DiBP, DiDP/DPHP) as well as the non-regulated substances (DMP, DEP, DINCH, DEHTP) although the rate of change differ for some of the compounds. GLM results indicate that the daily excretion of the most regulated phthalates has decreased over time (DEHP yearly about 12-16%, BBzP 5%, DnBP 0.3-17%, and DiBP 4-12%). Interestingly, also the non-regulated phthalates DMP and DEP decreased by 6-18% per year. In sharp contrast, the phthalate substitutes DINCH and DEHTP show very steep annual increases (∼10-68% and ∼100%, respectively) between 2009 and 2017. We did not find an effect of age, sex, BMI, or education on the time trend. The present study provides comparable insights into how exposure to phthalates and two of their substitutes have changed over the last two decades in Germany and Denmark.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nina Vogel
- German Environment Agency (UBA), Berlin, Germany.
| | - Hanne Frederiksen
- Department of Growth and Reproduction, Copenhagen University Hospital - Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen, Denmark; International Center for Research and Research Training in Endocrine Disruption of Male Reproduction and Child Health (EDMaRC), Copenhagen University Hospital - Rigshospitalet, Denmark
| | - Rosa Lange
- German Environment Agency (UBA), Berlin, Germany
| | - Niels Jørgensen
- Department of Growth and Reproduction, Copenhagen University Hospital - Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen, Denmark; International Center for Research and Research Training in Endocrine Disruption of Male Reproduction and Child Health (EDMaRC), Copenhagen University Hospital - Rigshospitalet, Denmark
| | - Holger M Koch
- Institute for Prevention and Occupational Medicine of the German Social Accident Insurance, Institute of the Ruhr University Bochum (IPA), Bochum, Germany
| | - Till Weber
- German Environment Agency (UBA), Berlin, Germany
| | - Anna-Maria Andersson
- Department of Growth and Reproduction, Copenhagen University Hospital - Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen, Denmark; International Center for Research and Research Training in Endocrine Disruption of Male Reproduction and Child Health (EDMaRC), Copenhagen University Hospital - Rigshospitalet, Denmark
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17
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Domínguez-Romero E, Komprdová K, Kalina J, Bessems J, Karakitsios S, Sarigiannis DA, Scheringer M. Time-trends in human urinary concentrations of phthalates and substitutes DEHT and DINCH in Asian and North American countries (2009-2019). JOURNAL OF EXPOSURE SCIENCE & ENVIRONMENTAL EPIDEMIOLOGY 2023; 33:244-254. [PMID: 35513587 PMCID: PMC10005949 DOI: 10.1038/s41370-022-00441-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 17.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/08/2021] [Revised: 04/01/2022] [Accepted: 04/06/2022] [Indexed: 05/26/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Many phthalates are environmental pollutants and toxic to humans. Following phthalate regulations, human exposure to phthalates has globally decreased with time in European countries, the US and Korea. Conversely, exposure to their substitutes DEHT and/or DINCH has increased. In other countries, including China, little is known on the time-trends in human exposure to these plasticizers. OBJECTIVE We aimed to estimate time-trends in the urinary concentrations of phthalates, DEHT, and DINCH metabolites, in general population from non-European countries, in the last decade. METHODS We compiled human biomonitoring (HBM) data from 123 studies worldwide in a database termed "PhthaLit". We analyzed time-trends in the urinary concentrations of the excreted metabolites of various phthalates as well as DEHT and DINCH per metabolite, age group, and country/region, in 2009-2019. Additionally, we compared urinary metabolites levels between continents. RESULTS We found solid time-trends in adults and/or children from the US, Canada, China and Taiwan. DEHP metabolites decreased in the US and Canada. Conversely in Asia, 5oxo- and 5OH-MEHP (DEHP metabolites) increased in Chinese children. For low-weight phthalates, the trends showed a mixed picture between metabolites and countries. Notably, MnBP (a DnBP metabolite) increased in China. The phthalate substitutes DEHT and DINCH markedly increased in the US. SIGNIFICANCE We addressed the major question of time-trends in human exposure to phthalates and their substitutes and compared the results in different countries worldwide. IMPACT Phthalates account for more than 50% of the plasticizer world market. Because of their toxicity, some phthalates have been regulated. In turn, the consumption of non-phthalate substitutes, such as DEHT and DINCH, is growing. Currently, phthalates and their substitutes show high detection percentages in human urine. Concerning time-trends, several studies, mainly in Europe, show a global decrease in phthalate exposure, and an increase in the exposure to phthalate substitutes in the last decade. In this study, we address the important question of time-trends in human exposure to phthalates and their substitutes and compare the results in different countries worldwide.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elena Domínguez-Romero
- RECETOX, Faculty of Science, Masaryk University, Kotlarska 2, Brno, 611 37, Czech Republic.
| | - Klára Komprdová
- RECETOX, Faculty of Science, Masaryk University, Kotlarska 2, Brno, 611 37, Czech Republic
| | - Jiří Kalina
- RECETOX, Faculty of Science, Masaryk University, Kotlarska 2, Brno, 611 37, Czech Republic
| | - Jos Bessems
- VITO (Flemish Institute for Technological Research), BE-2400, Mol, Belgium
| | - Spyros Karakitsios
- Aristotle Univ Thessaloniki, Dept Chem Engn, Environm Engn Lab, Univ Campus,Bldg D,Rm 201, Thessaloniki, 54124, Greece
- HERACLES Res Ctr Exposome & Hlth, Ctr Interdisciplinary Res & Innovat, Balkan Ctr, Bldg B,10thkm Thessaloniki Thermi Rd, Thessaloniki, 57001, Greece
| | - Dimosthenis A Sarigiannis
- Aristotle Univ Thessaloniki, Dept Chem Engn, Environm Engn Lab, Univ Campus,Bldg D,Rm 201, Thessaloniki, 54124, Greece
- HERACLES Res Ctr Exposome & Hlth, Ctr Interdisciplinary Res & Innovat, Balkan Ctr, Bldg B,10thkm Thessaloniki Thermi Rd, Thessaloniki, 57001, Greece
- Sch Adv Study IUSS, Sci Technol & Soc Dept, Environm Hlth Engn, Piazza Vittoria 15, I-27100, Pavia, Italy
| | - Martin Scheringer
- RECETOX, Faculty of Science, Masaryk University, Kotlarska 2, Brno, 611 37, Czech Republic
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18
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Pluym N, Burkhardt T, Rögner N, Scherer G, Weber T, Scherer M, Kolossa-Gehring M. Monitoring the exposure to ethoxyquin between 2000 and 2021 in urine samples from the German Environmental Specimen Bank. ENVIRONMENT INTERNATIONAL 2023; 172:107781. [PMID: 36758297 DOI: 10.1016/j.envint.2023.107781] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/27/2022] [Revised: 01/17/2023] [Accepted: 01/24/2023] [Indexed: 06/18/2023]
Abstract
Human Biomonitoring (HBM) of emerging chemicals gained increasing attention within the EU in recent years. After evaluating the metabolism, we established a new HBM method for ethoxyquin (EQ), a feed additive, which was banned in 2017 due to concerns regarding the possible exposure of the general population to it and its highly toxic precursor p-phenetidine. The method was applied to 250 urine samples from the Environmental Specimen Bank collected between 2000 and 2021. The major metabolite EQI was quantified in the majority of the study samples illustrating the ubiquitous exposure of the non-occupationally exposed population. A rather constant exposure was observed until 2016 with a significant decline from 2016 to 2021. This drop falls within the EU wide ban of the chemical as a feed additive from June 2017 which led to a gradual removal until its complete suspension in June 2020. The daily intake (DI) was evaluated with respect to the reported derived no-effect level (DNEL) to estimate the potential health risks from EQ exposure. The median DI of 0.0181 µg/kg bw/d corresponds to only 0.01 % of the DNEL. Even the observed maxima up to 13.1 µg/kg bw/d only accounted for 10 % of the DNEL. Nevertheless, the values suggest a general exposure with the risk of higher burden in a low fraction of the population. In regard to the EQ associated intake of the carcinogen and suspected mutagen p-phenetidine, this level of exposure cannot be evaluated as safe. The recent decrease and the broad exposure substantiate the need for future HBM campaigns in population representative studies to further investigate the observed reductions, potentially find highly exposed subgroups and clarify the impact of the ban as feed additive on EQ exposure.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nikola Pluym
- ABF Analytisch-Biologisches Forschungslabor GmbH, Semmelweisstr. 5, 82152 Planegg, Germany
| | - Therese Burkhardt
- ABF Analytisch-Biologisches Forschungslabor GmbH, Semmelweisstr. 5, 82152 Planegg, Germany
| | - Nadine Rögner
- ABF Analytisch-Biologisches Forschungslabor GmbH, Semmelweisstr. 5, 82152 Planegg, Germany
| | - Gerhard Scherer
- ABF Analytisch-Biologisches Forschungslabor GmbH, Semmelweisstr. 5, 82152 Planegg, Germany
| | - Till Weber
- German Environment Agency (UBA), Corrensplatz 1, 14195 Berlin, Germany
| | - Max Scherer
- ABF Analytisch-Biologisches Forschungslabor GmbH, Semmelweisstr. 5, 82152 Planegg, Germany.
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19
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Gerofke A, David M, Schmidt P, Vicente JL, Buekers J, Gilles L, Colles A, Bessems J, Bastiaensen M, Covaci A, Den Hond E, Koppen G, Laeremans M, Verheyen VJ, Černá M, Klánová J, Krsková A, Zvonař M, Knudsen LE, Koch HM, Jensen TK, Rambaud L, Riou M, Vogel N, Gabriel C, Karakitsios S, Papaioannou N, Sarigiannis D, Kakucs R, Középesy S, Rudnai P, Szigeti T, Barbone F, Rosolen V, Guignard C, Gutleb AC, Sakhi AK, Haug LS, Janasik B, Ligocka D, Estokova M, Fabelova L, Kolena B, Murinova LP, Petrovicova I, Richterova D, Horvat M, Mazej D, Tratnik JS, Runkel AA, Castaño A, Esteban-López M, Pedraza-Díaz S, Åkesson A, Lignell S, Vlaanderen J, Zock JP, Schoeters G, Kolossa-Gehring M. From science to policy: How European HBM indicators help to answer policy questions related to phthalates and DINCH exposure. Int J Hyg Environ Health 2023; 247:114073. [PMID: 36434900 PMCID: PMC9758616 DOI: 10.1016/j.ijheh.2022.114073] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/08/2022] [Revised: 10/19/2022] [Accepted: 11/07/2022] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
Within the European Human Biomonitoring (HBM) Initiative HBM4EU we derived HBM indicators that were designed to help answering key policy questions and support chemical policies. The result indicators convey information on chemicals exposure of different age groups, sexes, geographical regions and time points by comparing median exposure values. If differences are observed for one group or the other, policy measures or risk management options can be implemented. Impact indicators support health risk assessment by comparing exposure values with health-based guidance values, such as human biomonitoring guidance values (HBM-GVs). In general, the indicators should be designed to translate complex scientific information into short and clear messages and make it accessible to policy makers but also to a broader audience such as stakeholders (e.g. NGO's), other scientists and the general public. Based on harmonized data from the HBM4EU Aligned Studies (2014-2021), the usefulness of our indicators was demonstrated for the age group children (6-11 years), using two case examples: one phthalate (Diisobutyl phthalate: DiBP) and one non-phthalate substitute (Di-isononyl cyclohexane-1,2- dicarboxylate: DINCH). For the comparison of age groups, these were compared to data for teenagers (12-18 years), and time periods were compared using data from the DEMOCOPHES project (2011-2012). Our result indicators proved to be suitable for demonstrating the effectiveness of policy measures for DiBP and the need of continuous monitoring for DINCH. They showed similar exposure for boys and girls, indicating that there is no need for gender focused interventions and/or no indication of sex-specific exposure patterns. They created a basis for a targeted approach by highlighting relevant geographical differences in internal exposure. An adequate data basis is essential for revealing differences for all indicators. This was particularly evident in our studies on the indicators on age differences. The impact indicator revealed that health risks based on exposure to DiBP cannot be excluded. This is an indication or flag for risk managers and policy makers that exposure to DiBP still is a relevant health issue. HBM indicators derived within HBM4EU are a valuable and important complement to existing indicator lists in the context of environment and health. Their applicability, current shortcomings and solution strategies are outlined.
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Affiliation(s)
- Antje Gerofke
- German Environment Agency (UBA), Corrensplatz 1, 14195, Berlin, Germany,Corresponding author.
| | - Madlen David
- German Environment Agency (UBA), Corrensplatz 1, 14195, Berlin, Germany
| | - Phillipp Schmidt
- German Environment Agency (UBA), Corrensplatz 1, 14195, Berlin, Germany
| | - Joana Lobo Vicente
- European Environment Agency, Kongens Nytorv 6, 1050, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Jurgen Buekers
- VITO – Flemish Institute for Technological Research, Unit Health, Boeretang 200, 2400, Mol, Belgium
| | - Liese Gilles
- VITO – Flemish Institute for Technological Research, Unit Health, Boeretang 200, 2400, Mol, Belgium
| | - Ann Colles
- VITO – Flemish Institute for Technological Research, Unit Health, Boeretang 200, 2400, Mol, Belgium
| | - Jos Bessems
- VITO – Flemish Institute for Technological Research, Unit Health, Boeretang 200, 2400, Mol, Belgium
| | | | - Adrian Covaci
- Toxicological Center, University of Antwerp, 2610 Wilrijk, Belgium
| | | | - Gudrun Koppen
- VITO – Flemish Institute for Technological Research, Unit Health, Boeretang 200, 2400, Mol, Belgium
| | - Michelle Laeremans
- VITO – Flemish Institute for Technological Research, Unit Health, Boeretang 200, 2400, Mol, Belgium
| | - Veerle J. Verheyen
- VITO – Flemish Institute for Technological Research, Unit Health, Boeretang 200, 2400, Mol, Belgium
| | - Milena Černá
- National Institute of Public Health, Prague, Czech Republic
| | - Jana Klánová
- RECETOX, Faculty of Science, Masaryk University, Kotlarska 2, Brno, Czech Republic
| | - Andrea Krsková
- National Institute of Public Health, Prague, Czech Republic
| | - Martin Zvonař
- RECETOX, Faculty of Science, Masaryk University, Kotlarska 2, Brno, Czech Republic,Faculty of Sport Studies, Masaryk University, Kamenice 753/5, Brno, Czech Republic
| | - Lisbeth E. Knudsen
- Department of Public Health, University of Copenhagen Øster Farimagsgade 5 DK Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Holger M. Koch
- Institute for Prevention and Occupational Medicine of the German Social Accident Insurance − Institute of the Ruhr University Bochum (IPA), 44789, Bochum, Germany
| | - Tina Kold Jensen
- Faculty of Health Sciences, Department of Public Health, Clinical Pharmacology, Pharmacy and Environmental Medicine, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark
| | - Loïc Rambaud
- Santé publique France, French Public Health Agency (SpFrance), Saint-Maurice, France
| | - Margaux Riou
- Santé publique France, French Public Health Agency (SpFrance), Saint-Maurice, France
| | - Nina Vogel
- German Environment Agency (UBA), Corrensplatz 1, 14195, Berlin, Germany
| | - Catherine Gabriel
- Environmental Engineering Laboratory, Department of Chemical Engineering, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 54124, Thessaloniki, Greece,HERACLES Research Center on the Exposome and Health, Center for Interdisciplinary Research and Innovation, Balkan Center, Bldg. B, 10th km Thessaloniki-Thermi Road, 57001, Greece
| | - Spyros Karakitsios
- Environmental Engineering Laboratory, Department of Chemical Engineering, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 54124, Thessaloniki, Greece,HERACLES Research Center on the Exposome and Health, Center for Interdisciplinary Research and Innovation, Balkan Center, Bldg. B, 10th km Thessaloniki-Thermi Road, 57001, Greece
| | - Nafsika Papaioannou
- Environmental Engineering Laboratory, Department of Chemical Engineering, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 54124, Thessaloniki, Greece,HERACLES Research Center on the Exposome and Health, Center for Interdisciplinary Research and Innovation, Balkan Center, Bldg. B, 10th km Thessaloniki-Thermi Road, 57001, Greece
| | - Denis Sarigiannis
- Environmental Engineering Laboratory, Department of Chemical Engineering, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 54124, Thessaloniki, Greece,HERACLES Research Center on the Exposome and Health, Center for Interdisciplinary Research and Innovation, Balkan Center, Bldg. B, 10th km Thessaloniki-Thermi Road, 57001, Greece,Environmental Health Engineering, Institute of Advanced Study, Palazzo del Broletto - Piazza Della Vittoria 15, 27100, Pavia, Italy
| | - Réka Kakucs
- National Public Health Center, Albert Flórián út 2-6., 1097, Budapest, Hungary
| | - Szilvia Középesy
- National Public Health Center, Albert Flórián út 2-6., 1097, Budapest, Hungary
| | - Péter Rudnai
- National Public Health Center, Albert Flórián út 2-6., 1097, Budapest, Hungary
| | - Tamás Szigeti
- National Public Health Center, Albert Flórián út 2-6., 1097, Budapest, Hungary
| | - Fabio Barbone
- Department of Medicine—DAME, University of Udine, Via Colugna 50, 33100, Udine, Italy
| | - Valentina Rosolen
- Institute for Maternal and Child Health - IRCCS "Burlo Garofolo", 34137, Trieste, Italy
| | - Cedric Guignard
- Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology (LIST), Environmental Research and Innovation (ERIN) Department, 41, rue du Brill, L-4422 Belvaux, Luxembourg
| | - Arno C. Gutleb
- Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology (LIST), Environmental Research and Innovation (ERIN) Department, 41, rue du Brill, L-4422 Belvaux, Luxembourg
| | | | | | - Beata Janasik
- Nofer Institute of Occupational Medicine, St. Teresy 8, Lodz, Poland
| | - Danuta Ligocka
- Nofer Institute of Occupational Medicine, St. Teresy 8, Lodz, Poland
| | - Milada Estokova
- Public Health Authority of the Slovak Republic, Trnavska cesta 52, 826 45, Bratislava, Slovakia
| | - Lucia Fabelova
- Slovak Medical University, Faculty of Public Health, Limbova 12, 83303 Bratislava, Slovakia
| | - Branislav Kolena
- Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra, Tr. A Hlinku 1, 94901 Nitra, Slovakia
| | | | - Ida Petrovicova
- Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra, Tr. A Hlinku 1, 94901 Nitra, Slovakia
| | - Denisa Richterova
- Slovak Medical University, Faculty of Public Health, Limbova 12, 83303 Bratislava, Slovakia
| | - Milena Horvat
- Jožef Stefan Institute, Department of Environmental Sciences, Jamova cesta 39, 1000, Ljubljana, Slovenia
| | - Darja Mazej
- Jožef Stefan Institute, Department of Environmental Sciences, Jamova cesta 39, 1000, Ljubljana, Slovenia
| | - Janja Snoj Tratnik
- Jožef Stefan Institute, Department of Environmental Sciences, Jamova cesta 39, 1000, Ljubljana, Slovenia
| | - Agneta Annika Runkel
- Jožef Stefan Institute, Department of Environmental Sciences, Jamova cesta 39, 1000, Ljubljana, Slovenia
| | - Argelia Castaño
- National Centre for Environmental Health, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Madrid, Spain
| | - Marta Esteban-López
- National Centre for Environmental Health, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Madrid, Spain
| | - Susana Pedraza-Díaz
- National Centre for Environmental Health, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Madrid, Spain
| | - Agneta Åkesson
- Institute of Environmental Medicine, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Sanna Lignell
- Swedish Food Agency, PO Box 622, SE-751 26, Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Jelle Vlaanderen
- Institute for Risk Assessment Sciences (IRAS), Utrecht University, Utrecht, the Netherlands
| | - Jan-Paul Zock
- National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM), Bilthoven, the Netherlands
| | - Greet Schoeters
- VITO – Flemish Institute for Technological Research, Unit Health, Boeretang 200, 2400, Mol, Belgium
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20
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Pirard C, Charlier C. Urinary levels of parabens, phthalate metabolites, bisphenol A and plasticizer alternatives in a Belgian population: Time trend or impact of an awareness campaign? ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH 2022; 214:113852. [PMID: 35820649 DOI: 10.1016/j.envres.2022.113852] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/12/2022] [Revised: 07/04/2022] [Accepted: 07/06/2022] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
A human biomonitoring study was carried out in 2015 within an adult population living in Liege (Belgium). Some phthalate metabolites and parabens were measured in the urine of 252 participants, and information were collected about their food habits, life styles and home environment to identify some predictors of exposure. Concomitantly, an awareness campaign was initiated by the Provincial Authorities of Liege and spread over 2 years. Three years later (2018), 92 of the initial participants provided again urine samples, and the levels of phthalate metabolites, phthalate substitute (DINCH), parabens, bisphenol-A and bisphenol alternatives (bisphenol-S, -F, -Z, -P) were determined and compared to those obtained in 2015 to assess time trends. In 2015, methyl- and ethylparaben were the most abundant parabens (P50 = 9.12 μg/L and 1.1 μg/L respectively), while propyl- and butylparaben were sparsely detected. Except for mono-2-ethylhexyl phthalate and 6-OH-mono-propyl-heptyl phthalate, all other targeted phthalate metabolites were positively quantified in most of the urine samples (between 89 and 98%) with median concentrations ranging between 2.7 μg/L and 21.3 μg/L depending on the metabolite. The multivariate regression models highlighted some significant associations between urinary phthalate metabolite or paraben levels and age, rural or urban character of the residence place, and the use of some personal care products. However, all determination coefficients were weak meaning that the usual covariates included in the models only explained a small part of the variance. Between 2015 and 2018, levels of parabens and phthalate metabolites significantly decreased (from 1.3 to 2.5 fold) except for monoethyl phthalate which seemed to remain quite constant. Contrariwise, all bisphenol alternatives and DINCH metabolites were measured in higher concentrations in 2018 vs 2015 while BPA levels did not differ significantly. However, it was not feasible to unequivocally highlight an impact of the awareness campaign on the exposure levels of the population.
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Affiliation(s)
- Catherine Pirard
- Laboratory of Clinical, Forensic and Environmental Toxicology, CHU of Liege, B35, 4000, Liege, Belgium; Center for Interdisciplinary Research on Medicines (CIRM), University of Liege (ULiege), CHU (B35), 4000, Liege, Belgium.
| | - Corinne Charlier
- Laboratory of Clinical, Forensic and Environmental Toxicology, CHU of Liege, B35, 4000, Liege, Belgium; Center for Interdisciplinary Research on Medicines (CIRM), University of Liege (ULiege), CHU (B35), 4000, Liege, Belgium
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21
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Kuhlmann L, Münch F, Göen T, Eckert E. Simultaneous and sensitive determination of the main metabolites of the plasticizer DEHP and its substitutes DEHTP, DINCH and TEHTM in human urine by coupling of on-line SPE, UHPLC and tandem mass spectrometry. ANALYTICAL METHODS : ADVANCING METHODS AND APPLICATIONS 2022; 14:3970-3981. [PMID: 36178049 DOI: 10.1039/d2ay01293f] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/16/2023]
Abstract
With the prominent but toxicologically critical plasticizer di-(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP) declining, alternative plasticizers are increasingly used leading to a continuously more diverse exposure situation of humans with multiple plasticizers. Therefore, an on-line SPE-LC-MS/MS method for the simultaneous determination of the most relevant urinary biomarkers of exposure to DEHP and the alternative plasticizers 1,2-cyclohexane dicarboxylic acid diisononyl ester (DINCH), di-(2-ethylhexyl) terephthalate (DEHTP) and tri-(2-ethylhexyl) trimellitate (TEHTM) was developed. The method is characterized by a high sensitivity with limits of detection ranging from 0.006 to 0.047 μg L-1 combined with an easy and straightforward sample preparation procedure. The wide linear working range of the method enables a reliable determination of analyte background levels in the general population as well as its potential use for monitoring studies investigating elevated plasticizer exposure settings. The method was successfully applied to urine samples from ten volunteers without occupational exposure to plasticizers revealing ubiquitous background exposure levels of the common plasticizers DEHP, DEHTP and DINCH.
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Affiliation(s)
- Laura Kuhlmann
- Institute and Outpatient Clinic of Occupational, Social and Environmental Medicine, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nuremberg, Henkestr. 9-11, 91054 Erlangen, Germany.
| | - Frank Münch
- Department of Pediatric Cardiac Surgery, University Hospital Erlangen, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Germany
| | - Thomas Göen
- Institute and Outpatient Clinic of Occupational, Social and Environmental Medicine, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nuremberg, Henkestr. 9-11, 91054 Erlangen, Germany.
| | - Elisabeth Eckert
- Institute and Outpatient Clinic of Occupational, Social and Environmental Medicine, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nuremberg, Henkestr. 9-11, 91054 Erlangen, Germany.
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22
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Stuchlík Fišerová P, Melymuk L, Komprdová K, Domínguez-Romero E, Scheringer M, Kohoutek J, Přibylová P, Andrýsková L, Piler P, Koch HM, Zvonař M, Esteban-López M, Castaño A, Klánová J. Personal care product use and lifestyle affect phthalate and DINCH metabolite levels in teenagers and young adults. ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH 2022; 213:113675. [PMID: 35700762 DOI: 10.1016/j.envres.2022.113675] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/27/2021] [Revised: 06/08/2022] [Accepted: 06/10/2022] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
Humans are widely exposed to phthalates and their novel substitutes, and considering the negative health effects associated with some phthalates, it is crucial to understand population levels and exposure determinants. This study is focused on 300 urine samples from teenagers (aged 12-17) and 300 from young adults (aged 18-37) living in Czechia collected in 2019 and 2020 to assess 17 plasticizer metabolites as biomarkers of exposure. We identified widespread phthalate exposure in the study population. The diethyl phthalate metabolite monoethyl phthalate (MEP) and three di (2-ethylhexyl) phthalate metabolites were detected in the urine of >99% of study participants. The highest median concentrations were found for metabolites of low-molecular-weight (LMW) phthalates: mono-n-butyl phthalate (MnBP), monoisobutyl phthalate (MiBP) and MEP (60.7; 52.6 and 17.6 μg/L in young adults). 1,2-cyclohexanedicarboxylic acid diisononyl ester (DINCH) metabolites were present in 68.2% of the samples with a median of 1.24 μg/L for both cohorts. Concentrations of MnBP and MiBP were similar to other European populations, but 5-6 times higher than in populations in North America. We also observed large variability in phthalate exposures within the study population, with 2-3 orders of magnitude differences in urinary metabolites between high and low exposed individuals. The concentrations varied with season, gender, age, and lifestyle factors. A relationship was found between high levels of MEP and high overall use of personal care products (PCPs). Cluster analysis suggested that phthalate exposures depend on season and multiple lifestyle factors, like time spent indoors and use of PCPs, which combine to lead to the observed widespread presence of phthalate metabolites in both study populations. Participants who spent more time indoors, particularly noticeably during colder months, had higher levels of high-molecular weight phthalate metabolites, whereas participants with higher PCP use, particularly women, tended to have higher concentration of LMW phthalate metabolites.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Lisa Melymuk
- RECETOX, Faculty of Science, Masaryk University, Kotlarska 2, Brno, Czech Republic.
| | - Klára Komprdová
- RECETOX, Faculty of Science, Masaryk University, Kotlarska 2, Brno, Czech Republic
| | | | - Martin Scheringer
- RECETOX, Faculty of Science, Masaryk University, Kotlarska 2, Brno, Czech Republic
| | - Jiří Kohoutek
- RECETOX, Faculty of Science, Masaryk University, Kotlarska 2, Brno, Czech Republic
| | - Petra Přibylová
- RECETOX, Faculty of Science, Masaryk University, Kotlarska 2, Brno, Czech Republic
| | - Lenka Andrýsková
- RECETOX, Faculty of Science, Masaryk University, Kotlarska 2, Brno, Czech Republic
| | - Pavel Piler
- RECETOX, Faculty of Science, Masaryk University, Kotlarska 2, Brno, Czech Republic
| | - Holger M Koch
- Institute for Prevention and Occupational Medicine of the German Social Accident Insurance - Institute of the Ruhr-University Bochum (IPA), Bürkle-de-la-Camp-Platz 1, Bochum, Germany
| | - Martin Zvonař
- RECETOX, Faculty of Science, Masaryk University, Kotlarska 2, Brno, Czech Republic; Faculty of Sports, Masaryk University, Kamenice, Brno, Czech Republic
| | - Marta Esteban-López
- National Centre for Environmental Health, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Majadahonda, Madrid, Spain
| | - Argelia Castaño
- National Centre for Environmental Health, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Majadahonda, Madrid, Spain
| | - Jana Klánová
- RECETOX, Faculty of Science, Masaryk University, Kotlarska 2, Brno, Czech Republic
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23
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Medical devices as a source of phthalate exposure: a review of current knowledge and alternative solutions. Arh Hig Rada Toksikol 2022; 73:179-190. [PMID: 36226817 PMCID: PMC9837533 DOI: 10.2478/aiht-2022-73-3639] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/01/2022] [Accepted: 08/01/2022] [Indexed: 11/07/2022] Open
Abstract
Phthalates are a group of phthalic acid esters used as plasticisers in a large number of products to improve their flexibility, softness, and extensibility. Their wide use in medical devices, however, raises a lot of concern, as they can enter the organism and have toxic effects on human liver, thyroid, kidneys, lungs, reproductive, endocrine, nervous, and respiratory system and are associated with asthma, obesity, autism, and diabetes. The aim of this review is to summarise current knowledge about phthalate migration from medical devices during different medical procedures and possible impact on patient health. It also looks at alternative plasticisers with supposedly lower migration rates and safer profile. Not enough is known about which and how many phthalates make part of medical devices or about the health impacts of alternative plasticisers or their migration rates.
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24
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Rosolen V, Giordani E, Mariuz M, Parpinel M, Ronfani L, Vecchi Brumatti L, Bin M, Calamandrei G, Mustieles V, Gilles L, Govarts E, Baken K, Rodriguez Martin L, Schoeters G, Sepai O, Sovcikova E, Fabelova L, Šidlovská M, Kolena B, Kold Jensen T, Frederiksen H, Kolossa-Gehring M, Lange R, Apel P, Castano A, Esteban López M, Jacobs G, Voorspoels S, Jurdáková H, Górová R, Barbone F. Concurrent Assessment of Phthalates/HEXAMOLL ® DINCH Exposure and Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children Performance in Three European Cohorts of the HBM4EU Aligned Studies. TOXICS 2022; 10:538. [PMID: 36136503 PMCID: PMC9502751 DOI: 10.3390/toxics10090538] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/02/2022] [Revised: 08/31/2022] [Accepted: 09/13/2022] [Indexed: 06/16/2023]
Abstract
Information about the effects of phthalates and non-phthalate substitute cyclohexane-1,2-dicarboxylic acid diisononyl ester (HEXAMOLL® DINCH) on children's neurodevelopment is limited. The aim of the present research is to evaluate the association between phthalate/HEXAMOLL® DINCH exposure and child neurodevelopment in three European cohorts involved in HBM4EU Aligned Studies. Participating subjects were school-aged children belonging to the Northern Adriatic cohort II (NAC-II), Italy, Odense Child Cohort (OCC), Denmark, and PCB cohort, Slovakia. In each cohort, children's neurodevelopment was assessed through the Full-Scale Intelligence Quotient score (FSIQ) of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale of Children test using three different editions. The children's urine samples, collected for one point in time concurrently with the neurodevelopmental evaluation, were analyzed for several phthalates/HEXAMOLL® DINCH biomarkers. The relation between phthalates/HEXAMOLL® DINCH and FSIQ was explored by applying separate multiple linear regressions in each cohort. The means and standard deviations of FSIQ were 109 ± 11 (NAC-II), 98 ± 12 (OCC), and 81 ± 15 (PCB cohort). In NAC-II, direct associations between FSIQ and DEHP's biomarkers were found: 5OH-MEHP+5oxo-MEHP (β = 2.56; 95% CI 0.58-4.55; N = 270), 5OH-MEHP+5cx-MEPP (β = 2.48; 95% CI 0.47-4.49; N = 270) and 5OH-MEHP (β = 2.58; 95% CI 0.65-4.51; N = 270). On the contrary, in the OCC the relation between DEHP's biomarkers and FSIQ tended to be inverse but imprecise (p-value ≥ 0.10). No associations were found in the PCB cohort. FSIQ was not associated with HEXAMOLL® DINCH in any cohort. In conclusion, these results do not provide evidence of an association between concurrent phthalate/DINCHHEXAMOLLR DINCH exposure and IQ in children.
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Affiliation(s)
- Valentina Rosolen
- Institute for Maternal and Child Health, IRCCS “Burlo Garofolo”, Via dell’Istria 65/1, 34137 Trieste, Italy
| | - Elisa Giordani
- Department of Medicine—DAME, University of Udine, Via Colugna 50, 33100 Udine, Italy
| | - Marika Mariuz
- Department of Medicine—DAME, University of Udine, Via Colugna 50, 33100 Udine, Italy
| | - Maria Parpinel
- Department of Medicine—DAME, University of Udine, Via Colugna 50, 33100 Udine, Italy
| | - Luca Ronfani
- Institute for Maternal and Child Health, IRCCS “Burlo Garofolo”, Via dell’Istria 65/1, 34137 Trieste, Italy
| | - Liza Vecchi Brumatti
- Institute for Maternal and Child Health, IRCCS “Burlo Garofolo”, Via dell’Istria 65/1, 34137 Trieste, Italy
| | - Maura Bin
- Institute for Maternal and Child Health, IRCCS “Burlo Garofolo”, Via dell’Istria 65/1, 34137 Trieste, Italy
| | - Gemma Calamandrei
- Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Viale Regina Elena 299, 00161 Rome, Italy
| | - Vicente Mustieles
- Center for Biomedical Research, University of Granada, 18011 Granada, Spain
- Instituto de Investigación Biosanitaria de Granada, 18012 Granada, Spain
- Consortium for Biomedical Research in Epidemiology and Public Health, 28029 Madrid, Spain
| | - Liese Gilles
- VITO Health, Flemish Institute for Technological Research (VITO), 2400 Mol, Belgium
| | - Eva Govarts
- VITO Health, Flemish Institute for Technological Research (VITO), 2400 Mol, Belgium
| | - Kirsten Baken
- VITO Health, Flemish Institute for Technological Research (VITO), 2400 Mol, Belgium
| | | | - Greet Schoeters
- VITO Health, Flemish Institute for Technological Research (VITO), 2400 Mol, Belgium
| | | | - Eva Sovcikova
- Department of Environmental Medicine, Faculty of Public Health, Slovak Medical University, 83303 Bratislava, Slovakia
| | - Lucia Fabelova
- Department of Environmental Medicine, Faculty of Public Health, Slovak Medical University, 83303 Bratislava, Slovakia
| | - Miroslava Šidlovská
- Department of Zoology and Anthropology, Faculty of Natural Sciences and Informatics, Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra, Nabrezie mladeze 91, 94974 Nitra, Slovakia
| | - Branislav Kolena
- Department of Zoology and Anthropology, Faculty of Natural Sciences and Informatics, Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra, Nabrezie mladeze 91, 94974 Nitra, Slovakia
| | - Tina Kold Jensen
- Department of Clinical Pharmacology, Pharmacy and Environmental Medicine, Institute of Public Health, University of Southern Denmark, 5000 Odense, Denmark
| | - Hanne Frederiksen
- Department of Growth and Reproduction, Copenhagen University Hospital-Rigshospitalet, 2100 Copenhagen, Denmark
- International Center for Research and Research Training in Endocrine Disruption of Male Reproduction and Child Health (EDMaRC), Copenhagen University Hospital-Rigshospitalet, 2100 Copenhagen, Denmark
| | | | - Rosa Lange
- German Environment Agency (UBA), Corrensplatz 1, 14195 Berlin, Germany
| | - Petra Apel
- German Environment Agency (UBA), Corrensplatz 1, 14195 Berlin, Germany
| | - Argelia Castano
- National Centre for Environmental Health, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, 28029 Madrid, Spain
| | - Marta Esteban López
- National Centre for Environmental Health, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, 28029 Madrid, Spain
| | - Griet Jacobs
- Unit Separation and Conversion Technology, Flemish Institute for Technological Research (VITO), Boeretang 200, 2400 Mol, Belgium
| | - Stefan Voorspoels
- Unit Separation and Conversion Technology, Flemish Institute for Technological Research (VITO), Boeretang 200, 2400 Mol, Belgium
| | - Helena Jurdáková
- Department of Analytical Chemistry, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Comenius University, Ilkovičova 6, Mlynská Dolina, 84215 Bratislava, Slovakia
| | - Renáta Górová
- Department of Analytical Chemistry, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Comenius University, Ilkovičova 6, Mlynská Dolina, 84215 Bratislava, Slovakia
| | - Fabio Barbone
- Department of Medicine—DAME, University of Udine, Via Colugna 50, 33100 Udine, Italy
- Institute of Hygiene and Clinical Epidemiology, Azienda Sanitaria Universitaria Friuli Centrale, Via Colugna 50, 33100 Udine, Italy
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25
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Ringbeck B, Weber T, Bury D, Kasper-Sonnenberg M, Pälmke C, Brüning T, Koch HM, Kolossa-Gehring M. Nonylphenol (NP) exposure in Germany between 1991 and 2021: Urinary biomarker analyses in the German Environmental Specimen Bank (ESB). Int J Hyg Environ Health 2022; 245:114010. [DOI: 10.1016/j.ijheh.2022.114010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/08/2022] [Revised: 07/08/2022] [Accepted: 07/24/2022] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
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26
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Crobeddu B, Jutras-Carignan A, Kolasa É, Mounier C, Robaire B, Plante I. Gestational and lactational exposure to the emergent alternative plasticizer 1,2-cyclohexane dicarboxylic acid diisononyl ester (DINCH) impairs lipid metabolism to a greater extent than the commonly used Di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP) in the adult rat mammary gland. Toxicol Sci 2022; 189:268-286. [PMID: 35861430 DOI: 10.1093/toxsci/kfac076] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Due to their endocrine disruption properties, phthalate plasticizers such as di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP) can affect the hormone-dependent development of the mammary gland. Over the past few years, DEHP has been partially replaced by 1,2-cyclohexane dicarboxylic acid diisononyl ester (DINCH) which also have potential endocrine disrupting properties. The goal of the present study is to understand the impact of a gestational and lactational exposure to DEHP and DINCH on mammary gland development using Sprague-Dawley rats. Both plasticizers altered the adipocytes of the mammary gland fat pad of adult progeny, as demonstrated by a decrease in their size, folding of their membrane and modulations of the lipid profiles. DEHP treatments decreased the expression of Rxrα and Scd1 at the low and high dose, respectively, but did not affect any of the other genes studied. DINCH modulation of lipid metabolism could be observed at puberty by a decreased expression of genes implicated in triglyceride synthesis, lipid transport and lipolysis, but by an increased expression of genes of the β-oxidation pathway and of genes involved in lipid storage and fatty acid synthesis at adulthood, compared to control and DEHP-treated rats. A strong upregulation of different inflammatory markers was observed following DINCH exposure only. Together, our results indicate that a gestational and lactational exposure to DINCH has earlier and more significant effects on lipid homeostasis, adipogenesis and the inflammatory state of the adult mammary gland than DEHP exposure. The long-term consequence of these effects on mammary gland health remained to be determined.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bélinda Crobeddu
- INRS-Centre Armand-Frappier Santé Biotechnologie, 531 boul. des Prairies, Laval, Québec, H7V 1B7, Canada
| | - Antoine Jutras-Carignan
- Laboratoire du métabolisme des lipides, CERMO-FC, Département des sciences biologiques, Université du Québec à Montréal, Case postale 8888, succursale Centre-Ville, Montréal, Québec, H3C 3P8, Canada
| | - Élise Kolasa
- INRS-Centre Armand-Frappier Santé Biotechnologie, 531 boul. des Prairies, Laval, Québec, H7V 1B7, Canada
| | - Catherine Mounier
- Laboratoire du métabolisme des lipides, CERMO-FC, Département des sciences biologiques, Université du Québec à Montréal, Case postale 8888, succursale Centre-Ville, Montréal, Québec, H3C 3P8, Canada
| | - Bernard Robaire
- Department of Pharmacology & Therapeutics, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, H3G 1Y6, Canada.,Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, H4A 3J1, Canada
| | - Isabelle Plante
- INRS-Centre Armand-Frappier Santé Biotechnologie, 531 boul. des Prairies, Laval, Québec, H7V 1B7, Canada
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27
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Bereketoglu C, Pradhan A. Plasticizers: negative impacts on the thyroid hormone system. ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE AND POLLUTION RESEARCH INTERNATIONAL 2022; 29:38912-38927. [PMID: 35303231 PMCID: PMC9119869 DOI: 10.1007/s11356-022-19594-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/29/2021] [Accepted: 03/03/2022] [Indexed: 05/31/2023]
Abstract
This review aims to understand the impacts of plasticizers on the thyroid system of animals and humans. The thyroid gland is one of the earliest endocrine glands that appear during embryogenesis. The thyroid gland synthesizes thyroid hormones (TH), triiodothyronine (T3), and thyroxine (T4) that are important in the regulation of body homeostasis. TH plays critical roles in regulating different physiological functions, including metabolism, cell growth, circadian rhythm, and nervous system development. Alteration in thyroid function can lead to different medical problems. In recent years, thyroid-related medical problems have increased and this could be due to rising environmental pollutants. Plasticizers are one such group of a pollutant that impacts thyroid function. Plasticizers are man-made chemicals used in a wide range of products, such as children's toys, food packaging items, building materials, medical devices, cosmetics, and ink. The increased use of plasticizers has resulted in their detection in the environment, animals, and humans. Studies indicated that plasticizers could alter thyroid function in both animals and humans at different levels. Several studies demonstrated a positive and/or negative correlation between plasticizers and serum T4 and T3 levels. Plasticizers could also change the expression of various TH-related genes and proteins, including thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH), thyrotropin-releasing hormone (TRH), and transporters. Histological analyses demonstrated thyroid follicular cell hypertrophy and hyperplasia in response to several plasticizers. In conclusion, plasticizers could disrupt TH homeostasis and the mechanisms of toxicity could be diverse.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ceyhun Bereketoglu
- Department of Bioengineering, Faculty of Engineering, Marmara University, 34722, Istanbul, Turkey
| | - Ajay Pradhan
- Biology, The Life Science Center, School of Science and Technology, Örebro University, 701 82, Örebro, Sweden.
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28
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Buckley J, Kuiper JR, Bennett DH, Barrett ES, Bastain T, Breton CV, Chinthakindi S, Dunlop AL, Farzan SF, Herbstman JB, Karagas MR, Marsit CJ, Meeker JD, Morello-Frosch R, O’Connor TG, Romano ME, Schantz S, Schmidt RJ, Watkins DJ, Zhu H, Pellizzari ED, Kannan K, Woodruff TJ. Exposure to Contemporary and Emerging Chemicals in Commerce among Pregnant Women in the United States: The Environmental influences on Child Health Outcome (ECHO) Program. ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY 2022; 56:6560-6573. [PMID: 35536918 PMCID: PMC9118548 DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.1c08942] [Citation(s) in RCA: 34] [Impact Index Per Article: 17.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/30/2021] [Revised: 04/21/2022] [Accepted: 04/22/2022] [Indexed: 05/10/2023]
Abstract
Prenatal chemical exposures can influence maternal and child health; however, few industrial chemicals are routinely biomonitored. We assessed an extensive panel of contemporary and emerging chemicals in 171 pregnant women across the United States (U.S.) and Puerto Rico in the Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) Program. We simultaneously measured urinary concentrations of 89 analytes (103 total chemicals representing 73 parent compounds) in nine chemical groups: bactericides, benzophenones, bisphenols, fungicides and herbicides, insecticides, organophosphate esters (OPEs), parabens, phthalates/alternative plasticizers, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). We estimated associations of creatinine-adjusted concentrations with sociodemographic and specimen characteristics. Among our diverse prenatal population (60% non-Hispanic Black or Hispanic), we detected 73 of 89 analytes in ≥1 participant and 36 in >50% of participants. Five analytes not currently included in the U.S. biomonitoring were detected in ≥90% of samples: benzophenone-1, thiamethoxam, mono-2-(propyl-6-carboxy-hexyl) phthalate, monocarboxy isooctyl phthalate, and monohydroxy-iso-decyl phthalate. Many analyte concentrations were higher among women of Hispanic ethnicity compared to those of non-Hispanic White women. Concentrations of certain chemicals decreased with the calendar year, whereas concentrations of their replacements increased. Our largest study to date identified widespread exposures to prevalent and understudied chemicals in a diverse sample of pregnant women in the U.S.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jessie
P. Buckley
- Department
of Environmental Health and Engineering, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland 21218, United States
| | - Jordan R. Kuiper
- Department
of Environmental Health and Engineering, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland 21218, United States
| | - Deborah H. Bennett
- Department
of Public Health Sciences, University of California Davis, Davis, California 95616, United States
| | - Emily S. Barrett
- Department
of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, Rutgers
School of Public Health, Piscataway, New Jersey 08854, United States
| | - Tracy Bastain
- Department
of Population and Public Health Sciences, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California 90032, United States
| | - Carrie V. Breton
- Department
of Population and Public Health Sciences, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California 90032, United States
| | - Sridhar Chinthakindi
- Department
of Pediatrics and Department of Environmental Medicine, New York University School of Medicine, New York, New York 10016, United States
| | - Anne L. Dunlop
- Department
of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Emory University
School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia 30322, United States
| | - Shohreh F. Farzan
- Department
of Population and Public Health Sciences, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California 90032, United States
| | - Julie B. Herbstman
- Department
of Environmental Health Sciences, Columbia, New York, NY 10032, United States
| | - Margaret R. Karagas
- Department
of Epidemiology, Dartmouth Geisel School
of Medicine, Lebanon, New Hampshire 03756, United States
| | - Carmen J. Marsit
- Department
of Environmental Health, Rollins School
of Public Health, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia 30322, United States
| | - John D. Meeker
- Department
of Environmental Health Sciences, University
of Michigan School of Public Health, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, United States
| | - Rachel Morello-Frosch
- Department
of Environmental Science, Policy and Management and School of Public
Health, University of California, Berkeley California 94720, United States
| | - Thomas G. O’Connor
- Department
of Psychiatry, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York 14627, United States
| | - Megan E. Romano
- Department
of Epidemiology, Dartmouth Geisel School
of Medicine, Lebanon, New Hampshire 03756, United States
| | - Susan Schantz
- Beckman
Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois 61801, United States
| | - Rebecca J. Schmidt
- Department
of Public Health Sciences, University of California Davis, Davis, California 95616, United States
| | - Deborah J. Watkins
- Department
of Environmental Health Sciences, University
of Michigan School of Public Health, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, United States
| | - Hongkai Zhu
- Department
of Pediatrics and Department of Environmental Medicine, New York University School of Medicine, New York, New York 10016, United States
| | - Edo D. Pellizzari
- RTI International, Research Triangle
Park, North Carolina 27709, United States
| | - Kurunthachalam Kannan
- Department
of Pediatrics and Department of Environmental Medicine, New York University School of Medicine, New York, New York 10016, United States
| | - Tracey J. Woodruff
- Department
of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Sciences and the Philip
R. Lee Institute for Health Policy Studies, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California 94143, United States
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Petroff RL, Padmanabhan V, Dolinoy DC, Watkins DJ, Ciarelli J, Haggerty D, Ruden DM, Goodrich JM. Prenatal Exposures to Common Phthalates and Prevalent Phthalate Alternatives and Infant DNA Methylation at Birth. Front Genet 2022; 13:793278. [PMID: 35432478 PMCID: PMC9010032 DOI: 10.3389/fgene.2022.793278] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/11/2021] [Accepted: 01/31/2022] [Indexed: 12/23/2022] Open
Abstract
Phthalates are a diverse group of chemicals used in consumer products. Because they are so widespread, exposure to these compounds is nearly unavoidable. Recently, growing scientific consensus has suggested that phthalates produce health effects in developing infants and children. These effects may be mediated through mechanisms related to the epigenome, the constellation of mitotically heritable chemical marks and small compounds that guide transcription and translation. The present study examined the relationship between prenatal, first-trimester exposure of seven phthalates and epigenetics in two pregnancy cohorts (n = 262) to investigate sex-specific alterations in infant blood DNA methylation at birth (cord blood or neonatal blood spots). Prenatal exposure to several phthalates was suggestive of association with altered DNA methylation at 4 loci in males (all related to ΣDEHP) and 4 loci in females (1 related to ΣDiNP; 2 related to BBzP; and 1 related to MCPP) at a cutoff of q < 0.2. Additionally, a subset of dyads (n = 79) was used to interrogate the relationships between two compounds increasingly used as substitutions for common phthalates (ΣDINCH and ΣDEHTP) and cord blood DNA methylation. ΣDINCH, but not ΣDEHTP, was suggestive of association with DNA methylation (q < 0.2). Together, these results demonstrate that prenatal exposure to both classically used phthalate metabolites and their newer alternatives is associated with sex-specific infant DNA methylation. Research and regulatory actions regarding this chemical class should consider the developmental health effects of these compounds and aim to avoid regrettable substitution scenarios in the present and future.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rebekah L. Petroff
- Department of Environmental Health Sciences, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, United States
| | - Vasantha Padmanabhan
- Department of Environmental Health Sciences, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, United States
- Department of Pediatrics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, United States
- Department of Nutritional Sciences, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, United States
| | - Dana C. Dolinoy
- Department of Environmental Health Sciences, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, United States
- Department of Nutritional Sciences, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, United States
| | - Deborah J. Watkins
- Department of Environmental Health Sciences, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, United States
| | - Joseph Ciarelli
- Department of Pediatrics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, United States
| | - Diana Haggerty
- Scholarly Activities and Scientific Support, Spectrum Health West Michigan, Grand Rapids, MI, United States
| | - Douglas M. Ruden
- Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI, United States
| | - Jaclyn M. Goodrich
- Department of Environmental Health Sciences, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, United States
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30
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Frederiksen H, Upners EN, Ljubicic ML, Fischer MB, Busch AS, Hagen CP, Juul A, Andersson AM. Exposure to 15 phthalates and two substitutes (DEHTP and DINCH) assessed in trios of infants and their parents as well as longitudinally in infants exclusively breastfed and after the introduction of a mixed diet. ENVIRONMENT INTERNATIONAL 2022; 161:107107. [PMID: 35091377 DOI: 10.1016/j.envint.2022.107107] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/27/2021] [Revised: 12/07/2021] [Accepted: 01/19/2022] [Indexed: 06/14/2023]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE Several phthalates have been restricted/banned due to their adverse endocrine disrupting properties. The use of other phthalates and substitutes has increased. Here we examine the current exposure to phthalates in family trios comprised of infants and their parents and in infants exclusive breastfed and following introduction to a mixed diet. METHODS Metabolites of 15 phthalates and two substitutes, di(2-ethylhexyl)-teraphthalate (DEHTP) and diisononyl-cyclohexane-1,2-dicarboxylate (DINCH), were measured in urine samples collected from >100 infants and their parents and in paired urine samples collected from 67 infants, while they were exclusively breastfed and when they got mixed diet. RESULTS Among infants and their parents, metabolites of nine out of 15 phthalates and both substitutes were detected in >74% of all samples. Estimated daily intake (DI) calculated as µg/kg/day, showed similar exposure levels among infants and their parents for several of the substances, and infants were more exposed to DEHTP than their mothers. Significantly higher estimated DIs were observed for some low-molecular phthalates in infants exclusively breastfed. In contrast, comparable estimated DIs were observed for many other phthalates and DEHTP regardless of feeding status. For most of the substances, the within-family variation, was lower than the between-family variation. Likewise, the within-infant variation on exclusively breast vs. mixed diet was lower than the between-infant variation. Independent of food status, some infants were concurrently exposed to almost all the measured phthalates and substitutes in higher amounts than others. CONCLUSION Surprisingly, irrespective of diet status infants were exposed to several phthalates and substitutes some of which have been regulated for years. Exposure patterns and levels were similar in infants and their parents. Importantly, risk assessment based on new refined reference doses (RfD-AA) exceeded the safety level for anti-androgenic effects in a number of infants and parents, which is of concern.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hanne Frederiksen
- Copenhagen University Hospital-Rigshospitalet, Department of Growth and Reproduction, Denmark; Copenhagen University Hospital-Rigshospitalet, International Center for Research and Research Training in Endocrine Disruption of Male Reproduction and Child Health (EDMaRC), Denmark.
| | - Emmie N Upners
- Copenhagen University Hospital-Rigshospitalet, Department of Growth and Reproduction, Denmark; Copenhagen University Hospital-Rigshospitalet, International Center for Research and Research Training in Endocrine Disruption of Male Reproduction and Child Health (EDMaRC), Denmark
| | - Marie Lindhardt Ljubicic
- Copenhagen University Hospital-Rigshospitalet, Department of Growth and Reproduction, Denmark; Copenhagen University Hospital-Rigshospitalet, International Center for Research and Research Training in Endocrine Disruption of Male Reproduction and Child Health (EDMaRC), Denmark
| | - Margit Bistrup Fischer
- Copenhagen University Hospital-Rigshospitalet, Department of Growth and Reproduction, Denmark; Copenhagen University Hospital-Rigshospitalet, International Center for Research and Research Training in Endocrine Disruption of Male Reproduction and Child Health (EDMaRC), Denmark
| | - Alexander Siegfried Busch
- Copenhagen University Hospital-Rigshospitalet, Department of Growth and Reproduction, Denmark; Copenhagen University Hospital-Rigshospitalet, International Center for Research and Research Training in Endocrine Disruption of Male Reproduction and Child Health (EDMaRC), Denmark
| | - Casper P Hagen
- Copenhagen University Hospital-Rigshospitalet, Department of Growth and Reproduction, Denmark; Copenhagen University Hospital-Rigshospitalet, International Center for Research and Research Training in Endocrine Disruption of Male Reproduction and Child Health (EDMaRC), Denmark
| | - Anders Juul
- Copenhagen University Hospital-Rigshospitalet, Department of Growth and Reproduction, Denmark; Copenhagen University Hospital-Rigshospitalet, International Center for Research and Research Training in Endocrine Disruption of Male Reproduction and Child Health (EDMaRC), Denmark; University of Copenhagen, Department of Clinical Medicine, Denmark
| | - Anna-Maria Andersson
- Copenhagen University Hospital-Rigshospitalet, Department of Growth and Reproduction, Denmark; Copenhagen University Hospital-Rigshospitalet, International Center for Research and Research Training in Endocrine Disruption of Male Reproduction and Child Health (EDMaRC), Denmark
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31
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Proficiency and Interlaboratory Variability in the Determination of Phthalate and DINCH Biomarkers in Human Urine: Results from the HBM4EU Project. TOXICS 2022; 10:toxics10020057. [PMID: 35202244 PMCID: PMC8878211 DOI: 10.3390/toxics10020057] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/30/2021] [Revised: 12/17/2021] [Accepted: 01/21/2022] [Indexed: 12/04/2022]
Abstract
A quality assurance/quality control program was implemented in the framework of the EU project HBM4EU to assess and improve the comparability of biomarker analysis and to build a network of competent laboratories. Four rounds of proficiency tests were organized for 15 phthalate and two DINCH urinary biomarkers (0.2–138 ng/mL) over a period of 18 months, with the involvement of 28 laboratories. A substantial improvement in performance was observed after the first round in particular, and by the end of the program, an average satisfactory performance rate of 90% was achieved. The interlaboratory reproducibility as derived from the participants’ results varied for the various biomarkers and rounds, with an average of 24% for the biomarkers of eight single-isomer phthalates (e.g., DnBP and DEHP) and 43% for the more challenging biomarkers of the mixed-isomer phthalates (DiNP, DiDP) and DINCH. When the reproducibility was based only on the laboratories that consistently achieved a satisfactory performance, this improved to 17% and 26%, respectively, clearly demonstrating the success of the QA/QC efforts. The program thus aided in building capacity and the establishment of a network of competent laboratories able to generate comparable and accurate HBM data for phthalate and DINCH biomarkers in 14 EU countries. In addition, global comparability was ensured by including external expert laboratories.
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32
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Runkel AA, Mazej D, Snoj Tratnik J, Tkalec Ž, Kosjek T, Horvat M. Exposure of men and lactating women to environmental phenols, phthalates, and DINCH. CHEMOSPHERE 2022; 286:131858. [PMID: 34399256 DOI: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2021.131858] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/13/2021] [Revised: 08/02/2021] [Accepted: 08/08/2021] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
Phthalates and 1,2-Cyclohexane dicarboxylic acid diisononyl ester (DINCH), bisphenols (BPs), parabens (PBs), and triclosan (TCS) are high-production-volume chemicals of pseudo-persistence that are concerning for the environment and human health. This study aims to assess the exposure to 10 phthalates, DINCH, and environmental phenols (3 BPs, 7 PBs, and TCS) of Slovenian men (n = 548) and lactating primiparous women (n = 536). We observed urinary concentrations comparable to studies from other countries and significant differences among the sub-populations. In our study, men had significantly higher levels of phthalates, DINCH, and BPs, whereas the concentrations of PBs in urine were significantly higher in women. The most significant determinant of exposure was the area of residence and the year of sampling (2008-2014) that mirrors trends in the market. Participants from urban or industrialized sampling locations had higher levels of almost all monitored analytes compared to rural locations. In an attempt to assess the risk of the population, hazard quotient (HQ) values were calculated for individual compounds and the chemical mixture. Individual analytes do not seem to pose a risk to the studied population at current exposure levels, whereas the HQ value of the chemical mixture is near the threshold of 1 which would indicate a higher risk. We conclude that greater emphasis on the risk resulting from cumulative exposure to chemical mixtures and additional studies are needed to estimate the exposure of susceptible populations, such as children.
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Affiliation(s)
- Agneta A Runkel
- Jožef Stefan Institute, Jamova cesta 39, 1000, Ljubljana, Slovenia; Jožef Stefan International Postgraduate School, Jamova cesta 39, 1000, Ljubljana, Slovenia
| | - Darja Mazej
- Jožef Stefan Institute, Jamova cesta 39, 1000, Ljubljana, Slovenia
| | | | - Žiga Tkalec
- Jožef Stefan Institute, Jamova cesta 39, 1000, Ljubljana, Slovenia; Jožef Stefan International Postgraduate School, Jamova cesta 39, 1000, Ljubljana, Slovenia
| | - Tina Kosjek
- Jožef Stefan Institute, Jamova cesta 39, 1000, Ljubljana, Slovenia
| | - Milena Horvat
- Jožef Stefan Institute, Jamova cesta 39, 1000, Ljubljana, Slovenia; Jožef Stefan International Postgraduate School, Jamova cesta 39, 1000, Ljubljana, Slovenia.
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33
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Rajkumar A, Luu T, Beal MA, Barton-Maclaren TS, Hales BF, Robaire B. Phthalates and Alternative Plasticizers Differentially affect Phenotypic Parameters in Gonadal Somatic and Germ Cell Lines. Biol Reprod 2021; 106:613-627. [PMID: 34792101 DOI: 10.1093/biolre/ioab216] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/23/2021] [Revised: 10/11/2021] [Accepted: 11/12/2021] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
The developmental and reproductive toxicity associated with exposure to phthalates has motivated a search for alternatives. However, there is limited knowledge regarding the adverse effects of some of these chemicals. We used high-content imaging to compare the effects of mono (2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (MEHP) with six alternative plasticizers: di-2-ethylhexyl terephthalate (DEHTP); diisononyl-phthalate (DINP); di-isononylcyclohexane-1,2-dicarboxylate (DINCH); 2-ethylhexyl adipate (DEHA); 2,2,4-trimethyl 1,3-pentanediol diisobutyrate (TXIB) and di-iso-decyl-adipate (DIDA). A male germ spermatogonial cell line (C18-4), a Sertoli cell line (TM4) and two steroidogenic cell lines (MA-10 Leydig and KGN granulosa) were exposed for 48h to each chemical (0.001-100 μM). Cell images were analyzed to assess cytotoxicity and effects on phenotypic endpoints. Only MEHP (100 μM) was cytotoxic and only in C18-4 cells. However, several plasticizers had distinct phenotypic effects in all four cell lines. DINP increased Calcein intensity in C18-4 cells, whereas DIDA induced oxidative stress. In TM4 cells, MEHP, and DINCH affected lipid droplet numbers, while DEHTP and DINCH increased oxidative stress. In MA-10 cells, MEHP increased lipid droplet areas and oxidative stress; DINP decreased the number of lysosomes, while DINP, DEHA and DIDA altered mitochondrial activity. In KGN cells, MEHP, DINP and DINCH increased the number of lipid droplets, whereas DINP decreased the number of lysosomes, increased oxidative stress and affected mitochondria. The Toxicological Priority Index (ToxPi) provided a visual illustration of the cell line specificity of the effects on phenotypic parameters. The lowest administered equivalent doses were observed for MEHP. We propose that this approach may assist in screening alternative plasticizers.
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Affiliation(s)
- Abishankari Rajkumar
- Department of Pharmacology & Therapeutics, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada, H3G 1Y6
| | - Trang Luu
- Department of Pharmacology & Therapeutics, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada, H3G 1Y6
| | - Marc A Beal
- Existing Substances Risk Assessment Bureau, Healthy Environments and Consumer Safety Branch, Health Canada, Ottawa, ON, Canada, KIA 0K9
| | - Tara S Barton-Maclaren
- Existing Substances Risk Assessment Bureau, Healthy Environments and Consumer Safety Branch, Health Canada, Ottawa, ON, Canada, KIA 0K9
| | - Barbara F Hales
- Department of Pharmacology & Therapeutics, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada, H3G 1Y6
| | - Bernard Robaire
- Department of Pharmacology & Therapeutics, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada, H3G 1Y6.,Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada. H3G 1Y6
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34
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Wu Y, Song Z, Little JC, Zhong M, Li H, Xu Y. An integrated exposure and pharmacokinetic modeling framework for assessing population-scale risks of phthalates and their substitutes. ENVIRONMENT INTERNATIONAL 2021; 156:106748. [PMID: 34256300 DOI: 10.1016/j.envint.2021.106748] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/30/2021] [Revised: 06/09/2021] [Accepted: 06/29/2021] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
To effectively incorporate in vitro-in silico-based methods into the regulation of consumer product safety, a quantitative connection between product phthalate concentrations and in vitro bioactivity data must be established for the general population. We developed, evaluated, and demonstrated a modeling framework that integrates exposure and pharmacokinetic models to convert product phthalate concentrations into population-scale risks for phthalates and their substitutes. A probabilistic exposure model was developed to generate the distribution of multi-route exposures based on product phthalate concentrations, chemical properties, and human activities. Pharmacokinetic models were developed to simulate population toxicokinetics using Bayesian analysis via the Markov chain Monte Carlo method. Both exposure and pharmacokinetic models demonstrated good predictive capability when compared with worldwide studies. The distributions of exposures and pharmacokinetics were integrated to predict the population distributions of internal dosimetry. The predicted distributions showed reasonable agreement with the U.S. biomonitoring surveys of urinary metabolites. The "source-to-outcome" local sensitivity analysis revealed that food contact materials had the greatest impact on body burden for di(2-ethylhexyl) adipate (DEHA), di-2-ethylhexyl phthalate (DEHP), di(isononyl) cyclohexane-1,2-dicarboxylate (DINCH), and di(2-propylheptyl) phthalate (DPHP), whereas the body burden of diethyl phthalate (DEP) was most sensitive to the concentration in personal care products. The upper bounds of predicted plasma concentrations showed no overlap with ToxCast in vitro bioactivity values. Compared with the in vitro-to-in vivo extrapolation (IVIVE) approach, the integrated modeling framework has significant advantages in mapping product phthalate concentrations to multi-route risks, and thus is of great significance for regulatory use with a relatively low input requirement. Further integration with new approach methodologies will facilitate these in vitro-in silico-based risk assessments for a broad range of products containing an equally broad range of chemicals.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yaoxing Wu
- Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA 24061, USA
| | - Zidong Song
- Department of Building Science and Beijing Key Laboratory of Indoor Air Quality Evaluation and Control, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
| | - John C Little
- Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA 24061, USA
| | - Min Zhong
- Bureau of Air Quality, Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, Harrisburg, PA 17101, USA
| | - Hongwan Li
- Department of Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin, TX 78712, USA
| | - Ying Xu
- Department of Building Science and Beijing Key Laboratory of Indoor Air Quality Evaluation and Control, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China; Department of Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin, TX 78712, USA.
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35
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Philippat C, Rolland M, Lyon-Caen S, Pin I, Sakhi AK, Sabaredzovic A, Thomsen C, Slama R. Pre- and early post-natal exposure to phthalates and DINCH in a new type of mother-child cohort relying on within-subject pools of repeated urine samples. ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION (BARKING, ESSEX : 1987) 2021; 287:117650. [PMID: 34435564 PMCID: PMC8444084 DOI: 10.1016/j.envpol.2021.117650] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/25/2020] [Revised: 06/15/2021] [Accepted: 06/21/2021] [Indexed: 05/08/2023]
Abstract
For non-persistent chemicals such as phthalates, a single spot urine sample only reflects exposure in the past few hours. Collecting repeated urine samples for each participant over windows of sensitivity is expected to improve exposure characterization but has rarely been done. We aimed to rely on within-subject pools of repeated urine samples to assess phthalate exposure during pregnancy and infancy. Women of the French SEPAGES mother-child cohort were asked to collect three urine samples per day over seven consecutive days, twice during their pregnancy (approximatively second (T2) and third (T3) trimesters). For their infants they also collected one sample per day during a week at two (M2) and twelve months (M12). Samples were pooled (within-subject, within-period) prior to phthalate and DINCH metabolite concentrations assessment. Number of pooled samples assayed was 477, 456, 152 and 100 for T2, T3, M2 and M12, respectively. All metabolites were detected in more than 95% of the pooled samples except for the two DINCH metabolites (oh- and oxo-MINCH), MMCHP and oh-MPHP at M2 for which detection frequencies ranged between 64% and 88%. Maternal concentrations of MiBP, MBzP, DEHP metabolites and oxo-MiNP decreased between 2014 and 2017, whereas concentrations of oh-MiNP and the two DINCH metabolites increased (Mann-Kendall p-values < 0.05). While improved compared to studies that relied on spot samples, Intraclass Correlation Coefficients for the pregnancy were below 0.40 for most metabolites. Spearman correlation coefficients between pooled samples collected in infancy were lower than those observed during pregnancy, and were all below 0.30. Exposure to emerging phthalate substitutes such as DINCH and DPHP seems widespread among pregnant women and infants. Collecting repeated urine samples in pregnant women and infants is feasible. The relatively low correlation across trimesters and between maternal and infant samples highlights the need to collect biospecimens in the assumed sensitive time window.
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Affiliation(s)
- Claire Philippat
- University Grenoble Alpes, Inserm, CNRS, Team of Environmental Epidemiology Applied to Reproduction and Respiratory Health, Institute for Advanced Biosciences (IAB), Grenoble, France.
| | - Matthieu Rolland
- University Grenoble Alpes, Inserm, CNRS, Team of Environmental Epidemiology Applied to Reproduction and Respiratory Health, Institute for Advanced Biosciences (IAB), Grenoble, France.
| | - Sarah Lyon-Caen
- University Grenoble Alpes, Inserm, CNRS, Team of Environmental Epidemiology Applied to Reproduction and Respiratory Health, Institute for Advanced Biosciences (IAB), Grenoble, France.
| | - Isabelle Pin
- University Grenoble Alpes, Inserm, CNRS, Team of Environmental Epidemiology Applied to Reproduction and Respiratory Health, Institute for Advanced Biosciences (IAB), Grenoble, France; Pediatric Department, Grenoble University Hospital, 38700, La Tronche, France.
| | | | | | | | - Rémy Slama
- University Grenoble Alpes, Inserm, CNRS, Team of Environmental Epidemiology Applied to Reproduction and Respiratory Health, Institute for Advanced Biosciences (IAB), Grenoble, France.
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36
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Di(isononyl) cyclohexane-1,2-dicarboxylate (DINCH) alters transcriptional profiles, lipid metabolism and behavior in zebrafish larvae. Heliyon 2021; 7:e07951. [PMID: 34553086 PMCID: PMC8441171 DOI: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2021.e07951] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/17/2021] [Revised: 08/22/2021] [Accepted: 09/03/2021] [Indexed: 01/11/2023] Open
Abstract
Plasticizers are commonly used in different consumer goods and personal care products to provide flexibility, durability and elasticity to polymers. Due to their reported toxicity, the use of several plasticizers, including phthalates has been regulated and/or banned from the market. Di(isononyl) cyclohexane-1,2-dicarboxylate (DINCH) is an alternative plasticizer that was introduced to replace toxic plasticizers. Increasing global demand and lack of toxicity data and safety assessment of DINCH have raised the concern to human and animal health. Hence, in the present study, we investigated the adverse effects of DINCH (at concentrations ranging from 0.01 to 10 μM) in early developmental stages of zebrafish using different endpoints such as hatching rate, developmental abnormalities, lipid content, behavior analysis and gene expression. We found that DINCH caused hatching delay in a dose-dependent manner and altered the expression of genes involved in stress response. Lipid staining using Oil Red O stain showed a slight lipid accumulation around the yolk, brain, eye and neck with increasing concentration. Genes associated with lipid transport such as fatty acid synthesis, β-oxidation, elongation, lipid transport were significantly altered by DINCH. Genes involved in cholesterol biosynthesis and homeostasis were also affected by DINCH indicating possible developmental neurotoxicity. Behavioral analysis of larvae demonstrated a distinct locomotor activity upon exposure to DINCH. The present data shows that DINCH could induce physiological and metabolic toxicity to aquatic organisms. Hence, further analyses and environmental monitoring of DINCH should be conducted to determine its safety and toxicity levels.
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37
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Schaffert A, Arnold J, Karkossa I, Blüher M, von Bergen M, Schubert K. The Emerging Plasticizer Alternative DINCH and Its Metabolite MINCH Induce Oxidative Stress and Enhance Inflammatory Responses in Human THP-1 Macrophages. Cells 2021; 10:cells10092367. [PMID: 34572016 PMCID: PMC8466537 DOI: 10.3390/cells10092367] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/06/2021] [Revised: 09/03/2021] [Accepted: 09/04/2021] [Indexed: 02/06/2023] Open
Abstract
The use of the plasticizer bis(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate (DEHP) and other plasticizers in the manufacture of plastic products has been restricted due to adverse health outcomes such as obesity, metabolic syndrome, and asthma, for which inflammation has been described to be a driving factor. The emerging alternative plasticizer 1,2-cyclohexanedioic acid diisononyl ester (DINCH) still lacks information regarding its potential effects on the immune system. Here, we investigated the effects of DINCH and its naturally occurring metabolite monoisononylcyclohexane-1,2-dicarboxylic acid ester (MINCH) on the innate immune response. Human THP-1 macrophages were exposed to 10 nM–10 μM DINCH or MINCH for 4 h, 16 h, and 24 h. To decipher the underlying mechanism of action, we applied an untargeted proteomic approach that revealed xenobiotic-induced activation of immune-related pathways such as the nuclear factor κB (NF-κB) signaling pathway. Key drivers were associated with oxidative stress, mitochondrial dysfunction, DNA damage repair, apoptosis, and autophagy. We verified increased reactive oxygen species (ROS) leading to cellular damage, NF-κB activation, and subsequent TNF and IL-1β release, even at low nM concentrations. Taken together, DINCH and MINCH induced cellular stress and pro-inflammatory effects in macrophages, which may lead to adverse health effects.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alexandra Schaffert
- Department of Molecular Systems Biology, Helmholtz-Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ), 04318 Leipzig, Germany; (A.S.); (J.A.); (I.K.); (M.v.B.)
| | - Josi Arnold
- Department of Molecular Systems Biology, Helmholtz-Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ), 04318 Leipzig, Germany; (A.S.); (J.A.); (I.K.); (M.v.B.)
| | - Isabel Karkossa
- Department of Molecular Systems Biology, Helmholtz-Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ), 04318 Leipzig, Germany; (A.S.); (J.A.); (I.K.); (M.v.B.)
| | - Matthias Blüher
- Helmholtz Institute for Metabolic, Obesity and Vascular Research (HI-MAG), 04318 Leipzig, Germany;
- Department of Endocrinology, Nephrology Rheumatology, University Hospital Leipzig Medical Research Center, 04318 Leipzig, Germany
| | - Martin von Bergen
- Department of Molecular Systems Biology, Helmholtz-Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ), 04318 Leipzig, Germany; (A.S.); (J.A.); (I.K.); (M.v.B.)
- Institute of Biochemistry, Leipzig University, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
| | - Kristin Schubert
- Department of Molecular Systems Biology, Helmholtz-Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ), 04318 Leipzig, Germany; (A.S.); (J.A.); (I.K.); (M.v.B.)
- Correspondence: ; Tel.: +49-341-235-1819
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Biemann R, Blüher M, Isermann B. Exposure to endocrine-disrupting compounds such as phthalates and bisphenol A is associated with an increased risk for obesity. Best Pract Res Clin Endocrinol Metab 2021; 35:101546. [PMID: 33966978 DOI: 10.1016/j.beem.2021.101546] [Citation(s) in RCA: 30] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/21/2022]
Abstract
Increasing evidence from epidemiological, animal and in vitro studies suggests that the increased production of synthetic chemicals that interfere with the proper functioning of the hormonal system, so-called endocrine-disrupting compounds (EDCs), might be involved in the development and rapid spread of obesity, coined the obesity epidemic. Recent findings have demonstrated that EDCs may interfere with hormonal receptors that regulate adipogenesis and metabolic pathways. Furthermore, prenatal exposure to EDCs has been shown to influence the metabolism of the developing embryo through epigenetic mechanisms and to promote obesity in subsequent generations. In this Review, we discuss the potential impact of bisphenol A (BPA) and phthalate-based plasticizers on obesity and obesity-related metabolic disorders. Special emphasis is given to the obesogenic effects of prenatal exposure and strategies for identifying, regulating, and replacing EDCs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ronald Biemann
- Institute of Laboratory Medicine, Clinical Chemistry and Molecular Diagnostics, University Hospital Leipzig, Paul-List-Str. 13/15, 04103, Leipzig, Germany.
| | - Matthias Blüher
- Helmholtz Institute for Metabolic, Obesity and Vascular Research (HI-MAG) of the Helmholtz Center Munich at the University of Leipzig and University Hospital Leipzig, Liebigstr. 21, 04103, Leipzig, Germany; Medical Department III - Endocrinology, Nephrology, Rheumatology, University of Leipzig Medical Center, Liebigstr. 21, 04103, Leipzig, Germany.
| | - Berend Isermann
- Institute of Laboratory Medicine, Clinical Chemistry and Molecular Diagnostics, University Hospital Leipzig, Paul-List-Str. 13/15, 04103, Leipzig, Germany.
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Lemke N, Murawski A, Lange R, Weber T, Apel P, Dębiak M, Koch HM, Kolossa-Gehring M. Substitutes mimic the exposure behaviour of REACH regulated phthalates - A review of the German HBM system on the example of plasticizers. Int J Hyg Environ Health 2021; 236:113780. [PMID: 34126298 DOI: 10.1016/j.ijheh.2021.113780] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/08/2021] [Revised: 04/30/2021] [Accepted: 05/27/2021] [Indexed: 12/19/2022]
Abstract
The population is constantly exposed to potentially harmful substances present in the environment, including inter alia food and drinking water, consumer products, and indoor air. Human biomonitoring (HBM) is a valuable tool to determine the integral, internal exposure of the general population, including vulnerable subgroups, to provide the basis for risk assessment and policy advice. The German HBM system comprises of five pillars: (1) the development of suitable analytical methods for new substances of concern, (2) cross-sectional population-representative German Environmental Surveys (GerES), (3) time trend analyses using archived samples from the Environmental Specimen Bank (ESB), (4) the derivation of health-based guidance values as a risk assessment tool, and (5) transfer of data into the European cooperation network HBM4EU. The goal of this paper is to present the complementary elements of the German HBM system and to show its strengths and limitations on the example of plasticizers. Plasticizers have been identified by EU services and HBM4EU partners as priority substances for chemical policy at EU level. Using the complementary elements of the German HBM system, the internal exposure to classical phthalates and novel alternative plasticizers can be reliably monitored. It is shown that market changes, due to regulation of certain phthalates and the rise of substitutes, are rapidly reflected in the internal exposure of the population. It was shown that exposure to DEHP, DiBP, DnBP, and BBzP decreased considerably, whereas exposure to the novel substitutes such as DPHP, DEHTP, and Hexamoll®DINCH has increased significantly. While health-based guidance values for several phthalates (esp. DnBP, DiBP, DEHP) were exceeded quite often at the turn of the millennium, exceedances today have become rarer. Still, also the latest GerES reveals the ubiquitous and concurrent exposures to many plasticizers. Of concern is that the youngest children showed the highest exposures to most of the investigated plasticizers and in some cases their levels of DiBP and DnBP still exceeded health-based guidance values. Over the last years, mixture exposures are increasingly recognized as relevant, especially if the toxicological modes of action are similar. This is supported by a cumulative risk assessment for four endocrine active phthalates which confirms the still concerning cumulative exposure in many young children. Given the adverse health effects of some phthalates and the limited toxicological knowledge of substitutes, exposure reduction and surveillance are needed on German and EU-level. Substitutes need to be monitored, to intervene if exposures are threatening to exceed acceptable levels, or if new toxicological data question their appropriateness. It is strongly recommended to reconsider the use of plastics and plasticizers.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nora Lemke
- German Environment Agency (UBA), Berlin, Germany
| | | | - Rosa Lange
- German Environment Agency (UBA), Berlin, Germany
| | - Till Weber
- German Environment Agency (UBA), Berlin, Germany
| | - Petra Apel
- German Environment Agency (UBA), Berlin, Germany
| | | | - Holger M Koch
- Institute for Prevention and Occupational Medicine of the German Social Accident Insurance (IPA), Institute of the Ruhr-University Bochum, Germany
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Bastiaensen M, Gys C, Colles A, Malarvannan G, Verheyen V, Koppen G, Govarts E, Bruckers L, Morrens B, Franken C, Den Hond E, Schoeters G, Covaci A. Biomarkers of phthalates and alternative plasticizers in the Flemish Environment and Health Study (FLEHS IV): Time trends and exposure assessment. ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION (BARKING, ESSEX : 1987) 2021; 276:116724. [PMID: 33631684 DOI: 10.1016/j.envpol.2021.116724] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/26/2020] [Revised: 02/02/2021] [Accepted: 02/08/2021] [Indexed: 06/12/2023]
Abstract
Restrictions on the use of legacy phthalate esters (PEs) as plasticizer chemicals in several consumer products has led to the increased use of alternative plasticizers (APs), such as di-(iso-nonyl)-cyclohexane-1,2-dicarboxylate (DINCH) and di-(2-ethylhexyl) terephthalate (DEHTP). In the fourth cycle of the Flemish Environment and Health Study (FLEHS IV, 2016-2020), we monitored exposure to seven PEs (diethyl phthalate (DEP), di-(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP), di-isobutyl phthalate (DiBP), di-n-butyl phthalate (DnBP), butylbenzyl phthalate (BBzP, di-isononyl phthalate (DINP), and di-isodecyl phthalate (DIDP))and three APs (DINCH, DEHTP, and di-(2-ethylhexyl) adipate (DEHA)) by measuring multiple biomarkers in urine of 416 adolescents from Flanders, Belgium (14-15 years old). The reference values show that exposure to PEs is still widespread, although levels of several PE metabolites (e.g., sum of DEHP metabolites, mono-normal-butyl phthalate (MnBP) and mono-benzyl phthalate (MBzP)) have decreased significantly compared to previous human biomonitoring cycles (2003-2018). On the other hand, metabolites of DINCH and DEHTP were detected in practically every participant. Concentrations of AP exposure biomarkers in urine were generally lower than PE metabolites, but calculations of estimated daily intakes (EDIs) showed that exposure to DINCH and DEHTP can be considerable. However, preliminary risk assessment showed that none of the EDI or urinary exposure levels of APs exceeded the available health-based guidance values, while a very low number of participants had levels of MiBP and MnBP exceeding the HBM value. Several significant determinants of exposure could be identified from multiple regression models: the presence of building materials containing PVC, ventilation habits, socio-economic status and season were all associated with PE and AP biomarker levels. Cumulatively, the results of FLEHS IV show that adolescents in Flanders, Belgium, are exposed to a wide range of plasticizer chemicals. Close monitoring over the last decade showed that the exposure levels of restricted PEs have decreased, while newer APs are now frequently detected in humans.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michiel Bastiaensen
- Toxicological Center, University of Antwerp, Universiteitsplein 1, 2610, Wilrijk, Belgium
| | - Celine Gys
- Toxicological Center, University of Antwerp, Universiteitsplein 1, 2610, Wilrijk, Belgium
| | - Ann Colles
- VITO Health, Flemish Institute for Technological Research (VITO), Boeretang 200, 2400, Mol, Belgium
| | - Govindan Malarvannan
- Toxicological Center, University of Antwerp, Universiteitsplein 1, 2610, Wilrijk, Belgium
| | - Veerle Verheyen
- VITO Health, Flemish Institute for Technological Research (VITO), Boeretang 200, 2400, Mol, Belgium; Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Antwerp, Universiteitsplein 1, 2610, Wilrijk, Belgium
| | - Gudrun Koppen
- VITO Health, Flemish Institute for Technological Research (VITO), Boeretang 200, 2400, Mol, Belgium
| | - Eva Govarts
- VITO Health, Flemish Institute for Technological Research (VITO), Boeretang 200, 2400, Mol, Belgium
| | - Liesbeth Bruckers
- BioStat, Data Science Institute, Hasselt University, Martelarenlaan 42, 3500, Hasselt, Belgium
| | - Bert Morrens
- Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Antwerp, Sint-Jacobstraat 2, 2000, Antwerp, Belgium
| | - Carmen Franken
- Provincial Institute of Hygiene, Kronenburgstraat 45, 2000, Antwerp, Belgium
| | - Elly Den Hond
- Provincial Institute of Hygiene, Kronenburgstraat 45, 2000, Antwerp, Belgium
| | - Greet Schoeters
- VITO Health, Flemish Institute for Technological Research (VITO), Boeretang 200, 2400, Mol, Belgium; Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Antwerp, Universiteitsplein 1, 2610, Wilrijk, Belgium
| | - Adrian Covaci
- Toxicological Center, University of Antwerp, Universiteitsplein 1, 2610, Wilrijk, Belgium.
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Lange R, Apel P, Rousselle C, Charles S, Sissoko F, Kolossa-Gehring M, Ougier E. The European Human Biomonitoring Initiative (HBM4EU): Human biomonitoring guidance values for selected phthalates and a substitute plasticizer. Int J Hyg Environ Health 2021; 234:113722. [PMID: 33711757 DOI: 10.1016/j.ijheh.2021.113722] [Citation(s) in RCA: 34] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/27/2020] [Revised: 02/17/2021] [Accepted: 02/18/2021] [Indexed: 12/18/2022]
Abstract
Ubiquitous use of plasticizers has led to a widespread internal exposure of the European population. Until today, metabolites are detected in almost every urine sample analysed. This raised the urgent need for a toxicological interpretation of the internal exposure levels. The European Human Biomonitoring Initiative (HBM4EU) contributes substantially to the knowledge on the actual exposure of European citizens to chemicals prioritised within HBM4EU, on their potential impact on health and on the interpretation of these data to improve policy making. On that account, human biomonitoring guidance values (HBM-GVs) are derived for the general population and the occupationally exposed population agreed at HBM4EU consortium level. These values can be used to assess phthalate exposure levels measured in HBM studies in a health risk assessment context. HBM-GVs were derived for five phthalates (DEHP, DnBP, DiBP, BBzP and DPHP) and for the non-phthalate substitute Hexamoll® DINCH. For the adult general population, the HBM-GVs for the specific metabolite(s) of the respective parent compounds in urine are the following: 0.5 mg/L for the sum of 5-oxo-MEHP and 5-OH-MEHP; 0.19 mg/L for MnBP, 0.23 mg/L for MiBP; 3 mg/L for MBzP; 0.5 mg/L for the sum of oxo-MPHP and OH-MPHP and 4.5 mg/L for the sum of OH-MINCH and cx-MINCH. The present paper further specifies HBM-GVs for children and for workers.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rosa Lange
- German Environment Agency (UBA), Corrensplatz 1, 14195, Berlin, Germany.
| | - Petra Apel
- German Environment Agency (UBA), Corrensplatz 1, 14195, Berlin, Germany
| | - Christophe Rousselle
- French Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health & Safety (ANSES), 14 Rue Pierre et Marie Curie, 94701, Maisons-Alfort Cedex, France
| | - Sandrine Charles
- French Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health & Safety (ANSES), 14 Rue Pierre et Marie Curie, 94701, Maisons-Alfort Cedex, France
| | - Fatoumata Sissoko
- French Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health & Safety (ANSES), 14 Rue Pierre et Marie Curie, 94701, Maisons-Alfort Cedex, France
| | | | - Eva Ougier
- French Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health & Safety (ANSES), 14 Rue Pierre et Marie Curie, 94701, Maisons-Alfort Cedex, France
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Human metabolism and urinary excretion kinetics of di-n-butyl adipate (DnBA) after oral and dermal administration in three volunteers. Toxicol Lett 2021; 343:11-20. [PMID: 33640488 DOI: 10.1016/j.toxlet.2021.02.012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/03/2020] [Revised: 01/28/2021] [Accepted: 02/19/2021] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
Abstract
Di-n-butyl adipate (DnBA) is used as a plasticizer and in various consumer products (e.g. personal care products) replacing, in part, the endocrine disruptor di-n-butyl phthalate (DnBP). We provide quantitative in vivo data on human DnBA metabolism and excretion after oral dose (105-185 μg/kg bw) and dermal application to three volunteers each as a tool for exposure and risk assessment. Complete and consecutive urine samples were collected for two (oral) and four days (dermal), respectively, and analyzed for the metabolites mono-n-butyl adipate (MnBA), 3- and tentative 4-hydroxy-mono-n-butyl adipate (3OH-MnBA, 4OH-MnBA), and 3-carboxy-mono-n-propyl adipate (3cx-MnPrA), as well as the hydrolysis product adipic acid (AA) using stable isotope dilution quantification. Metabolites were excreted within 24 h after oral dose with one or two concentration maxima at 0.8-3.0 h (n = 3) and 4.8-6.3 h (n = 2). AA was the major but unspecific metabolite with urinary excretion fractions (FUEs) of 14-26 %. Mean FUEs (range) of 3cx-MnPrA, MnBA, 3OH-MnBA, and tentative 4OH-MnBA were low, but consistent between volunteers (0.47 % (0.35-0.63 %), 0.079 % (0.065-0.091 %), 0.012 % (0.006-0.016 %), and 0.005 % (0.002-0.009 %), respectively). MnBA and 3OH-MnBA seem to be suitable, specific exposure biomarkers for DnBA, whereas 3cx-MnPrA and 4OH-MnBA seem to originate also from other, unknown sources not related to DnBA. Compared to the oral study, metabolite excretion in the dermal study was delayed and MnBA excretion was somewhat higher compared to the oxidized metabolites. Based on urinary concentrations and the above excretion fractions, calculated uptakes in the dermal study did not exceed the adipate ester ADI of 5 mg/(kg bw*day).
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Scherer M, Petreanu W, Weber T, Scherer G, Pluym N, Kolossa-Gehring M. Human biomonitoring in urine samples from the Environmental Specimen Bank reveals a decreasing trend over time in the exposure to the fragrance chemical lysmeral from 2000 to 2018. CHEMOSPHERE 2021; 265:128955. [PMID: 33220982 DOI: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2020.128955] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/15/2020] [Revised: 10/04/2020] [Accepted: 11/10/2020] [Indexed: 06/11/2023]
Abstract
2-(4-tert-butylbenzyl)propionaldehyde (trade names, e.g. lysmeral or lilial) is a fragrance chemical frequently used in cosmetic products where it is labelled as Butylphenyl methylpropional. A recently developed LC-MS/MS method for the analysis of four lysmeral metabolites (tert-butylbenzoic acid (TBBA), lysmerol, lysmerylic acid, and hydroxy-lysmerylic acid) was applied to 329 urine samples from the Environmental Specimen Bank collected between 2000 and 2018. The two major metabolites TBBA and lysmerol were found in quantifiable concentrations in almost all samples in this study and correlated significantly. Hence, both analytes proved to be specific biomarkers indicating the broad exposure to lysmeral. A significant decline was found for TBBA and lysmerol for the monitored years with the most pronounced decrease from 2012 to 2015. The daily intake (DI) was used to evaluate potential health risks with respect to the derived no-effect level (DNEL) as a threshold for exposure of the general population. The median DI (1.63 μg/kg bw/d) and the 95th percentile (4.69 μg/kg bw/d) corresponded to 2.6% and 7.5% of the lowest DNEL (62.5 μg/kg bw/d for oral administration), respectively. Even though a decreasing trend in exposure was observed the data still calls for efforts to reduce the exposure towards lysmeral since metabolites of lysmeral were detected in nearly all samples and adverse effects cannot be excluded. Clearly, these results need to be substantiated by HBM campaigns in population representative samples like the German Environmental Survey in adults (GerES VI) to provide more robust data for the adult population.
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Affiliation(s)
- Max Scherer
- ABF Analytisch-Biologisches Forschungslabor GmbH, Semmelweisstr. 5, 82152, Planegg, Germany
| | - Wolf Petreanu
- ABF Analytisch-Biologisches Forschungslabor GmbH, Semmelweisstr. 5, 82152, Planegg, Germany
| | - Till Weber
- German Environment Agency (UBA), Corrensplatz 1, 14195, Berlin, Germany
| | - Gerhard Scherer
- ABF Analytisch-Biologisches Forschungslabor GmbH, Semmelweisstr. 5, 82152, Planegg, Germany
| | - Nikola Pluym
- ABF Analytisch-Biologisches Forschungslabor GmbH, Semmelweisstr. 5, 82152, Planegg, Germany.
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Wenzel AG, Reiner JL, Kohno S, Wolf BJ, Brock JW, Cruze L, Newman RB, Kucklick JR. Biomonitoring of emerging DINCH metabolites in pregnant women in charleston, SC: 2011-2014. CHEMOSPHERE 2021; 262:128369. [PMID: 33182099 PMCID: PMC7670082 DOI: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2020.128369] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/18/2020] [Revised: 09/14/2020] [Accepted: 09/15/2020] [Indexed: 05/14/2023]
Abstract
Due to the mounting evidence that phthalates, specifically di-2-ethylhexyl phthalate and dibutyl phthalate, produce adverse endocrine effects in humans and wildlife, the use of other chemicals as replacements has increased. One of the most commonly encountered phthalate replacements is di(isononyl)cyclohexane-1,2-dicarboxylate (DINCH). Currently, little is known about the prevalence of human exposure, bioactivity, and endocrine disrupting potential of DINCH. We sampled urine from 100 pregnant women during the second trimester of pregnancy living in Charleston, SC between 2011 and 2014 and measured the following DINCH metabolites by LC-MS/MS: cyclohexane-1,2-dicarboxylic acid-mono(hydroxy-isononyl) ester (OH-MINCH), cyclohexane-1,2-dicarboxylic acid-mono(oxo-isononyl) ester (oxo-MINCH), and cyclohexane-1,2-dicarboxylic acid-monocarboxy isooctyl ester (cx-MINCH). These metabolites were also tested on human estrogen receptor alpha and progesterone receptor beta transactivation assays in vitro. OH-MINCH was detected in 98% of urine samples. The specific gravity-adjusted median (interquartile range) OH-MINCH concentration was 0.20 (0.25) ng/mL, and concentrations were significantly higher in African American women compared to Caucasian women (p = 0.01). DINCH metabolite concentrations were consistent between years, and they did not exhibit estrogenic or progestogenic activity in vitro. Human exposure to these emerging compounds should continue to be monitored, especially in vulnerable populations, to ensure the replacement of phthalates by DINCH is not a case of regrettable substitution.
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Affiliation(s)
- Abby G Wenzel
- Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Medical University of South Carolina, 171 Ashley Avenue, Charleston, SC, 29425, USA; National Institute of Standards and Technology, Hollings Marine Laboratory, 331 Fort Johnson Road, Charleston, SC, 29412, USA
| | - Jessica L Reiner
- National Institute of Standards and Technology, Hollings Marine Laboratory, 331 Fort Johnson Road, Charleston, SC, 29412, USA.
| | - Satomi Kohno
- Department of Biology, St. Cloud State University, 720 4thAvenue South, St. Cloud, MN, 56301, USA
| | - Bethany J Wolf
- Department of Public Health Sciences, Medical University of South Carolina, 135 Cannon Street, Suite 303, MSC 835, Charleston, SC, 29425, USA
| | - John W Brock
- Department of Chemistry, University of North Carolina Asheville, CPO #2010, One University Heights, Asheville, NC, 28804, USA
| | - Lori Cruze
- Department of Biology, Wofford College, 429 North Church Street, Spartanburg, SC, 29303, USA
| | - Roger B Newman
- Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Medical University of South Carolina, 171 Ashley Avenue, Charleston, SC, 29425, USA
| | - John R Kucklick
- National Institute of Standards and Technology, Hollings Marine Laboratory, 331 Fort Johnson Road, Charleston, SC, 29412, USA
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Shin HM, Dhar U, Calafat AM, Nguyen V, Schmidt RJ, Hertz-Picciotto I. Temporal Trends of Exposure to Phthalates and Phthalate Alternatives in California Pregnant Women during 2007-2013: Comparison with Other Populations. ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY 2020; 54:13157-13166. [PMID: 32940456 PMCID: PMC8237562 DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.0c03857] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/13/2023]
Abstract
Phthalates with potential adverse health effects are being replaced by other phthalates or phthalate alternatives. Little is known about temporal trends of phthalate exposure in pregnant women in the United States. We quantified 16 metabolites of eight phthalates and di(isononyl) cyclohexane-1,2-dicarboxylate (DINCH) in 656 urine samples collected from 192 California pregnant women in 2007-2013 during their second and third trimesters of pregnancy who participated in the MARBLES (Markers of Autism Risk in Babies-Learning Early Signs) study. We used multiple regression to estimate least squares geometric means of phthalate biomarker concentrations and annual percent changes over the study period. Biomarker concentrations of diethyl phthalate (DEP) and three phthalates with known toxicity and adverse health effects (i.e., butyl benzyl phthalate [BBzP], dibutyl phthalate [DBP], di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate [DEHP]) decreased, while those of di-isobutyl phthalate [DiBP], di-isononyl phthalate [DiNP], and di-n-octyl phthalate [DOP] increased in California pregnant women during our study period. To understand broad social forces that may influence temporal trends and geographic variations in phthalate exposure across countries, we compared our phthalate biomarker concentrations with those of other populations. We observed over a factor of 2 differences in exposure across countries for some phthalate biomarkers and between pregnant and nonpregnant women for DEP.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hyeong-Moo Shin
- Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Texas, Arlington, Texas, USA
- Corresponding author: Hyeong-Moo Shin, Ph.D., University of Texas, Arlington, 500 Yates Street, Box 19049, Arlington, Texas 76019,
| | - Upasana Dhar
- Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Texas, Arlington, Texas, USA
| | | | - Vy Nguyen
- Department of Environmental Health Sciences, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA
- Department of Computational Medicine and Bioinformatics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA
| | - Rebecca J. Schmidt
- Department of Public Health Sciences, University of California, Davis, California, USA
- UC Davis MIND (Medical Investigations of Neurodevelopmental Disorders) Institute, Sacramento, California, USA
| | - Irva Hertz-Picciotto
- Department of Public Health Sciences, University of California, Davis, California, USA
- UC Davis MIND (Medical Investigations of Neurodevelopmental Disorders) Institute, Sacramento, California, USA
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Schwedler G, Conrad A, Rucic E, Koch HM, Leng G, Schulz C, Schmied-Tobies MI, Kolossa-Gehring M. Hexamoll® DINCH and DPHP metabolites in urine of children and adolescents in Germany. Human biomonitoring results of the German Environmental Survey GerES V, 2014–2017. Int J Hyg Environ Health 2020; 229:113397. [DOI: 10.1016/j.ijheh.2019.09.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/02/2019] [Revised: 09/09/2019] [Accepted: 09/09/2019] [Indexed: 10/25/2022]
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Apel P, Kortenkamp A, Koch HM, Vogel N, Rüther M, Kasper-Sonnenberg M, Conrad A, Brüning T, Kolossa-Gehring M. Time course of phthalate cumulative risks to male developmental health over a 27-year period: Biomonitoring samples of the German Environmental Specimen Bank. ENVIRONMENT INTERNATIONAL 2020; 137:105467. [PMID: 32036120 DOI: 10.1016/j.envint.2020.105467] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/30/2019] [Revised: 12/19/2019] [Accepted: 01/03/2020] [Indexed: 05/12/2023]
Abstract
In several human biomonitoring surveys, changes in the usage patterns of phthalates have come to light, but their influence on the risks associated with combined exposures is insufficiently understood. Based on the largest study to date, the 27-year survey of urinary phthalate metabolite levels in 24-hour urine samples from the German Environmental Specimen Bank, we present a deep analysis of changing phthalate exposures on mixture risks. This analysis adopts the Hazard Index (HI) approach based on the five phthalates DBP, DIBP, BBP, DEHP and DINP. Calculations of the hazard index for each study participant included updated phthalate reference doses for anti-androgenicity (RfDAAs) that take account of new evidence of phthalates' developmental toxicity. The Maximum Cumulative Ratio (MCR) approach was used to establish whether a subject's combined exposure was dominated by one phthalate or was influenced by several phthalates simultaneously. Generally, over the years there was a shift towards lower HIs and higher MCRs, reflecting an increased complexity of the combined exposures. The decade from 1988 to about 1999 was characterised by rather high HIs of between 3 and 7 (95th percentile) which were driven by exposure to DBP and DEHP, often exceeding their single acceptable exposures. Traditional single phthalate risk assessments would have underestimated these risks by up to 50%. From 2006 onwards, no study participant experienced exposures above acceptable levels for a single phthalate, but combined exposures were still in excess of HI = 1. From 2011 onwards most individuals stayed below HI = 1. In interpreting these results, we caution against the use of HI = 1 as an acceptable limit and develop proposals for improved and more realistic mixture risk assessments that take account of co-exposures to other anti-androgenic substances also capable of disrupting the male reproductive system. From this perspective, we regard HIs between 0.1 and 0.2 as more appropriate for evaluating combined phthalate exposures. Assessed against lowered HIs of 0.1 - 0.2, the combined phthalate exposures of most study participants exceeded acceptable levels in all study years, including 2015. Continued monitoring efforts for phthalate combinations are required to provide the basis for appropriate risk management measures.
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Affiliation(s)
- Petra Apel
- German Environment Agency (UBA), Corrensplatz 1, 14195 Berlin, Germany.
| | - Andreas Kortenkamp
- Brunel University London, Department of Life Sciences, College of Health and Life Sciences, Kingston Lane, Uxbridge, Middlesex UB8 3PH, United Kingdom.
| | - Holger M Koch
- Institute for Prevention and Occupational Medicine of the German Social Accident Insurance, Institute of the Ruhr-University Bochum (IPA), Bürkle-de-la-Camp-Platz 1, 44789 Bochum, Germany
| | - Nina Vogel
- German Environment Agency (UBA), Corrensplatz 1, 14195 Berlin, Germany
| | - Maria Rüther
- German Environment Agency (UBA), Corrensplatz 1, 14195 Berlin, Germany
| | - Monika Kasper-Sonnenberg
- Institute for Prevention and Occupational Medicine of the German Social Accident Insurance, Institute of the Ruhr-University Bochum (IPA), Bürkle-de-la-Camp-Platz 1, 44789 Bochum, Germany
| | - Andre Conrad
- German Environment Agency (UBA), Corrensplatz 1, 14195 Berlin, Germany
| | - Thomas Brüning
- Institute for Prevention and Occupational Medicine of the German Social Accident Insurance, Institute of the Ruhr-University Bochum (IPA), Bürkle-de-la-Camp-Platz 1, 44789 Bochum, Germany
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Nehring A, Bury D, Ringbeck B, Kling HW, Otter R, Weiss T, Brüning T, Koch HM. Metabolism and urinary excretion kinetics of di(2-ethylhexyl) adipate (DEHA) in four human volunteers after a single oral dose. Toxicol Lett 2020; 321:95-102. [DOI: 10.1016/j.toxlet.2019.12.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/31/2019] [Accepted: 12/03/2019] [Indexed: 12/23/2022]
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Ringbeck B, Bury D, Hayen H, Weiss T, Brüning T, Koch HM. Determination of di-n-butyl adipate (DnBA) metabolites as possible biomarkers of exposure in human urine by online-SPE-LC-MS/MS. J Chromatogr B Analyt Technol Biomed Life Sci 2020; 1141:122029. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jchromb.2020.122029] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/17/2019] [Revised: 02/11/2020] [Accepted: 02/12/2020] [Indexed: 12/18/2022]
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Salthammer T. Emerging indoor pollutants. Int J Hyg Environ Health 2020; 224:113423. [DOI: 10.1016/j.ijheh.2019.113423] [Citation(s) in RCA: 30] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/26/2019] [Revised: 11/19/2019] [Accepted: 11/19/2019] [Indexed: 10/25/2022]
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