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Nero E, Caron-Beaudoin É, Aker A, Gaudreau É, Ayotte P, Blanchette C, Lemire M. Exposure to organophosphate esters among Inuit adults of Nunavik, Canada. THE SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 2024; 939:173563. [PMID: 38810742 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.173563] [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: 02/15/2024] [Revised: 05/02/2024] [Accepted: 05/25/2024] [Indexed: 05/31/2024]
Abstract
Halogenated organophosphate esters (OPEs) are increasingly used as flame retardants to replace polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), which have been phased out due to their confirmed persistence, toxicity, and ability to undergo long range atmospheric transport. Non-halogenated OPEs are primarily used as plasticizers. While human exposure to PBDEs in the Canadian Arctic is well documented, it is not the case for OPEs. To assess the exposure to OPEs in Inuit living in Nunavik (northern Québec, Canada), we measured 16 metabolites of halogenated and non-halogenated OPEs in pooled urine samples from the last population health survey conducted in Nunavik, the Qanuilirpitaa? 2017 Inuit Health Survey (Q2017). Urine samples (n = 1266) were pooled into 30 pools by sex (female; male), age groups (16-19; 20-29; 30-39; 40-59; 60+ years old) and regions (Hudson Bay; Hudson Strait; Ungava Bay). Q2017 geometric means and 95 % confidence intervals were compared with data from the Canadian Health Measures Survey Cycle 6 (2018-2019) (CHMS). Halogenated OPEs were systematically detected and generally found at higher concentrations than non-halogenated OPEs in both Q2017 and CHMS. Furthermore, urinary levels of BCIPP and BDCIPP (halogenated) were lower in Q2017 compared to CHMS while concentrations of DPhP, DpCP and DoCP (non-halogenated) were similar between Q2017 and CHMS. Across the 16 metabolites measured in Q2017, BCIPHIPP (halogenated) had the highest levels (geometric mean: 1.40 μg/g creatinine). This metabolite was not measured in CHMS and should be included in future surveys. Overall, our results show that Inuit in Nunavik are exposed to lower or similar OPEs levels than the rest of the general Canadian population suggesting that the main current exposure to OPEs may be from consumer goods containing flame retardants and imported from the south rather than long-range atmospheric transport to the Arctic.
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Affiliation(s)
- Emilie Nero
- Department of Health and Society, University of Toronto Scarborough, 1265 Military Trail, Toronto, ON, Canada
| | - Élyse Caron-Beaudoin
- Department of Health and Society, University of Toronto Scarborough, 1265 Military Trail, Toronto, ON, Canada; Department of Physical and Environmental Sciences, University of Toronto Scarborough, Ontario, Canada; Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
| | - Amira Aker
- Axe santé des Populations et Pratiques Optimales en santé, Centre de Recherche du CHU de Québec-Université Laval, Québec, Québec, Canada; Département de médecine sociale et Préventive, Université Laval, Québec, Québec, Canada
| | - Éric Gaudreau
- Centre de Toxicologie du Québec (CTQ), Institut national de santé publique du Québec (INSPQ), Québec, Canada
| | - Pierre Ayotte
- Centre de Toxicologie du Québec (CTQ), Institut national de santé publique du Québec (INSPQ), Québec, Canada; Axe santé des Populations et Pratiques Optimales en santé, Centre de Recherche du CHU de Québec-Université Laval, Québec, Québec, Canada
| | - Caty Blanchette
- Axe santé des Populations et Pratiques Optimales en santé, Centre de Recherche du CHU de Québec-Université Laval, Québec, Québec, Canada
| | - Mélanie Lemire
- Axe santé des Populations et Pratiques Optimales en santé, Centre de Recherche du CHU de Québec-Université Laval, Québec, Québec, Canada; Institut de Biologie Intégrative et des systèmes (IBIS), Université Laval, Québec, Québec, Canada
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Han Y, Zhao J, Li Z, Zhu L. Distribution, traceability, and risk assessment of organophosphate flame retardants in agricultural soils along the Yangtze River Delta in China. ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE AND POLLUTION RESEARCH INTERNATIONAL 2024; 31:41013-41024. [PMID: 38842776 DOI: 10.1007/s11356-024-33838-1] [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: 01/16/2024] [Accepted: 05/24/2024] [Indexed: 06/07/2024]
Abstract
Severe pollution threatens the ecosystem and human health in the Yangtze River Delta (YRD) in China because of the rapid development of industry in this area. This study examines the types, distribution, concentration, and origin of fourteen typical organophosphate flame retardants (OPFRs) in agricultural soils within the YRD region to offer insights for pollutant control and policy-making. The total concentration of OPFRs (ΣOPFRs) varied between 79.19 and 699.58 μg/kg dry weight (dw), averaging at 209.61 μg/kg dw. Among the OPFRs detected, tributoxyethyl phosphate (TBEP) was identified as the main congener, followed by tri-n-butyl phosphate (TnBP), tris(2-chloroisopropyl) phosphate (TCPP), and trimethyl phosphate (TMP). Source analysis, conducted through correlation coefficients and PCA, indicated that OPFRs in agricultural soils within the YRD region mainly originate from emissions related to plastic products and transportation. The health risk exposure to ΣOPFRs in agricultural soil was considered negligible for farmers, with values below 1.24 × 10-2 and 1.76 × 10-9 for noncarcinogenic and carcinogenic risks, respectively. However, the ecological risk of ΣOPFRs in all the samples ranged from 0.08-1.08, indicating a medium to high risk level. The results offer a comprehensive understanding of OPFR pollution in agricultural soils in the YRD region and can be useful for pollution control that mitigates ecological and health risks in this region.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yongxiang Han
- Department of Environmental Science, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310058, China
| | - Jiating Zhao
- Department of Environmental Science, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310058, China
- Zhejiang Provincial Key Laboratory of Organic Pollution Process and Control, Hangzhou, 310058, China
| | - Zhiheng Li
- School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Zhejiang Gongshang University, Zhejiang, 310018, Hangzhou, China
| | - Lizhong Zhu
- Department of Environmental Science, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310058, China.
- Zhejiang Provincial Key Laboratory of Organic Pollution Process and Control, Hangzhou, 310058, China.
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Huang J, Li J, Meng W, Su G. A critical review on organophosphate esters in drinking water: Analysis, occurrence, sources, and human health risk assessment. THE SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 2024; 913:169663. [PMID: 38159759 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.169663] [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: 09/10/2023] [Revised: 12/21/2023] [Accepted: 12/22/2023] [Indexed: 01/03/2024]
Abstract
Organophosphate esters (OPEs) are ubiquitous in the environment. Copious studies assessed OPEs in various environmental media. However, there is limited summative information about OPEs in drinking water. This review provides comprehensive data for the analytical methods, occurrence, sources, and risk assessment of OPEs in drinking water. In general, liquid-liquid extraction and solid-phase extraction are the most common methods in the extraction of OPEs from drinking water, while gas chromatography and liquid chromatography are the most commonly used instrumental methods for detecting OPEs in drinking water. On the basis of these techniques, a variety of methods on OPEs pretreatment and determination have been developed to know the pollution situation of OPEs. Studies on the occurrence of OPEs in drinking water show that the total concentrations of OPEs vary seasonally and regionally, with tris(1-chloro-2-isopropyl) phosphate and tris(2-chloroethyl) phosphate dominant among different kinds of drinking water. Source identification studies show that there are three main sources of OPEs in drinking water: 1) source water contamination; 2) residual in drinking water treatment process; 3) leakage from device or pipeline. Besides, risk assessments indicate that individual and total OPEs pose no or negligible health risk to human, but this result may be significantly underestimated. Finally, the current knowledge gaps on the research of OPEs in drinking water are discussed and some suggestions are provided for future environmental research.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jianan Huang
- Key Laboratory of Environmental Remediation and Ecological Health, Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, School of Environmental and Biological Engineering, Nanjing University of Science and Technology, Nanjing 210094, China
| | - Jianhua Li
- Key Laboratory of Environmental Remediation and Ecological Health, Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, School of Environmental and Biological Engineering, Nanjing University of Science and Technology, Nanjing 210094, China
| | - Weikun Meng
- Key Laboratory of Environmental Remediation and Ecological Health, Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, School of Environmental and Biological Engineering, Nanjing University of Science and Technology, Nanjing 210094, China
| | - Guanyong Su
- Key Laboratory of Environmental Remediation and Ecological Health, Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, School of Environmental and Biological Engineering, Nanjing University of Science and Technology, Nanjing 210094, China.
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