Protecting the children -a virtual reality experiment on consumers' risk perceptions of household chemicals

Warnings on the labels of hazardous household chemicals (e.g. warning pictograms and use instructions) should create risk awareness and thus encourage safe storage, handling and disposal. However, scientific findings have called into question the effectiveness of warnings to prevent accidents, albeit mostly based on consumers' self-reports. This study aimed to contribute to existing data on household chemicals and consumer safety by applying a novel observational method using virtual reality (VR). The study participants (N = 119) were observed after receiving a task to childproof a virtual apartment from various interactable neutral and hazardous objects (i.e. knives, lighters and household chemicals with and without warnings) that were placed in the virtual apartment. For the analysis, the object placement (i.e. accessible or inaccessible to the children) and the level of interaction with the objects were coded, and the observational data were supplemented with data gathered through a questionnaire. The results showed that most hazardous household chemicals were moved to spots that were inaccessible to the children without any interactions of the participants with the warnings. Instead, they used their pre-existing knowledge and intuitive strategies to judge the objects' risks. These potentially misleading intuitive strategies should be increasingly considered in the regulation of hazardous household chemicals. This study also discussed the use and limitations of VR for the observation of human behaviour and decision making under uncertainty.

Pharmacokinetics and toxicity evaluation following oral exposure to bisphenol F

Bisphenol F is a substitute material for bisphenol A and is widely used in household products as a raw material for polycarbonate resin, epoxy resin, and plastic reinforcement. It is known to be mainly used in food containers, thermal paper for receipts, and coatings for water pipes. In some countries, bisphenol F has been detected in drinking water and human urine samples. However, due to the lack of safety evaluation data on bisphenol F, it is difficult to establish appropriate guidelines for the proper use of the substance, and social anxiety is increasing accordingly. This study investigated the use, exposure route, and distribution flow of bisphenol F, a household chemical. To determine the no-observed-adverse-effect level (NOAEL) and target organ of bisphenol F after exposure, a single-dose oral toxicity, dose-range finding (28 day oral), repeated dose toxicity (90 day oral), and genotoxicity (reverse mutation, chromosomal abnormality, in vivo micronucleus test) tests were performed. The pharmacokinetic profile was also obtained. The test results are as follows: in the pharmacokinetic study, it was confirmed that single oral exposure to BPF resulted in systemic exposure; in single oral dose toxicity test, the approximate lethal dose was found to be 4000 mg/kg and confusion and convulsion was shown in the test animals; NOAEL was determined to be 2 mg/kg/day for male and 5 mg/kg/day for female, and the no-observed-effect level (NOEL) was determined to be 2 mg/kg/day for males and 1 mg/kg/day for females, and the target organ was the small intestine; genotoxicity tests confirmed that BPF does not induce genotoxicity.

Barriers to the safe use of chemical household products: A comparison across European countries

Chemical household products, such as cleaning and washing products or pest control and garden chemicals, are frequently involved in poisonings in private households. Consumer research has identified a number of barriers that impede the safe use of these products, ranging from unfamiliarity, to misconceptions and a lack of risk perception, to behavioural or situational barriers. This study aimed at investigating these barriers for consumers in eight European countries. Participants from eight European countries were recruited and asked to fill out an online questionnaire on their familiarity with hazard pictograms, perceptions and self-reported behaviour (Total: N = 5631, Austria: N = 731, Switzerland: N = 698, Germany: N = 711, France: N = 708, Italy: N = 695, Poland: N = 693, Sweden: N = 682, UK: N = 713). Across all countries, the lowest consumer familiarity was found for the meaning of the pictogram for "health hazard" (65% indicated having never seen it before). Small-sized differences between the eight countries were observed regarding people's familiarity, perceptions and self-reported behaviour. The results suggest that people apply hazard-related as well as product- and marketing-related strategies to judge the dangerousness of a chemical household product. These findings suggest a number of starting points for risk regulation and communication regarding hazardous household chemical products. Further, the results suggest that positive outcome expectancies and rules of thumb for judging the risks of a chemical household product are particularly relevant for people's self-reported safe use of chemical household products.

Spatial variability of ecosystem exposure to home and personal care chemicals in Asia

It is well recognized that there are currently limitations in the spatial and temporal resolution of environmental exposure models due to significant variabilities and uncertainties in model inputs and parameters. Here we present the updated Pangea multi-scale multimedia model based on the more spatially resolved, catchment-based hydrological HydroBASINS dataset covering the entire globe. We apply it to predict spatially-explicit exposure concentrations of linear alkylbenzene sulphonate (LAS) and triclosan (TCS) as two chemicals found in homecare (HC) and personal care (PC) products in river catchments across Asia, and test its potential for identifying/prioritizing catchments with higher exposure concentrations. In addition, we also identify the key parameters in the model framework driving higher concentrations and perform uncertainty analyses by applying Monte Carlo simulations on emissions and other non-spatial model inputs. The updated combination of Pangea with the HydroBASINS hydrological data represents a substantial improvement from the previous model with the gridded hydrological dataset (WWDRII) for modelling substance fate, with higher resolution and improved coverage in regions with lower flows, with the results demonstrating good agreement with monitored concentrations for TCS in both the freshwater (R² = 0.55) and sediment (R² = 0.81) compartments. The ranking of water basins by Predicted Environmental Concentrations (PECs) was similar for both TCS and LAS, with highest concentrations (Indus, Huang He, Cauvery, Huai He and Ganges) being one to two orders of magnitude greater than the water basins with lowest predicted PECs (Mekong and Brahmaputra). Emissions per unit volume of each catchment, chemical persistence, and river discharge were deemed to be the most influential factors on the variation of predicted PECs. Focusing on the Huang He (Yellow River) water basin, uncertainty confidence intervals (factor 31 for LAS and 6 for TCS) are much lower than the variability of predicted PECs across the Huang He catchments (factors 90,700 for LAS and 13,500 for TCS).

Early-life exposure to household chemicals and wheezing in children

The prevalence of the asthmatic symptoms among children increases globally over the time. Reduced exposure to pathogens in early childhood and increased exposure to anthropogenic irritants result in increased risk of wheezing in children, and all of this may be related to the usage of household chemicals. Objective of this analysis thus was to study the potential effects of overall exposure to home chemicals in the early life on the phenotypes of wheezing from birth until five years of age. 3411 mother-infant pairs from the Czech part of the European Longitudinal Study of Pregnancy and Childhood (ELSPAC-CZ) participated in the study. The exposure was estimated by the composite household chemical score from 18 chemical-based products. Social, medical and environmental factors were taken into account as covariates in multivariable multinomial logistic regression using phenotypes of wheezing as a study outcome. We were able to determine the association between several wheezing childhood phenotypes and the frequent usage of household chemicals in the fully adjusted model. Statistically significant odds ratios (OR) for increasing exposures per 1 SD of exposure score were obtained for the intermediate onset transient (OR 1.27, 95% CI 1.10-1.47), intermediated onset persistent (OR 1.23, 95% CI 1.03-1.46), and early onset persistent phenotypes (OR 1.36, 95% CI 1.04-1.77) in comparison to never wheezing children. Moreover, the persistent phenotypes were significantly associated with school age asthma. Our study has shown the negative role of the increased household chemicals usage on the respiratory outcomes in children up to five years of age. Overall evaluation of the household chemical exposure may be useful tool for any large epidemiological studies.

Toxico-vigilance - An inevitable prerequisite to keep a watch on toxins around you

India has got a handful of poison centers to compensate about 1.25 billion population of India. Hence, a lot of under-reporting of poisoning cases occurs due to limited resources. Gujarat being an upcoming industrial centre of India has got many key industries like textiles, automobiles, chemicals, diamonds, pharmaceuticals etc. This magnificent industrial growth has resulted upon increased exposure of various hazardous chemicals among the general and working population. This study reflects trends of poisoning observed in a poison center named Center For Education Awareness and Research On Chemicals and Health (CEARCH) at Ahmedabad. A retrospective study of around 659 cases were analytically analyzed which have been reported at CEARCH. Variables considered for analysis are age, gender, route of exposure, intention, agent group, agent subgroup and agent name. Out of which 274 cases of females, 384 cases were of males and one case of a transgender was reported. Maximum poisoning cases reported were of pesticides (57.35%) followed by pharmaceuticals (21.24%), industrial chemicals (6.22%), metals (5%), substance of abuse (3.94%), plant poisons (1.82%), household chemicals (1.36%), mixture of more than one agent (1.36%), herbicides (0.75%), animal poisons (0.45%), bacterial poisons (0.30%) and other poisons (0.15%). The data analysis reports that among all the routes of exposure, Oral route (94%) is the major route of exposure followed by inhalation (4%), dermal and injections respectively clearly emphasizing the need for appropriate steps towards the protection of the most vulnerable populations from the consequences of the pervasive poisons exposure.

Organic micropollutants in the Yangtze River: seasonal occurrence and annual loads

Twenty percent of the water run-off from China's land surface drains into the Yangtze River and carries the sewage of approximately 400 million people out to sea. The lower stretch of the Yangtze therefore offers the opportunity to assess the pollutant discharge of a huge population. To establish a comprehensive assessment of micropollutants, river water samples were collected monthly from May 2009 to June 2010 along a cross-section at the lowermost hydrological station of the Yangtze River not influenced by the tide (Datong Station, Anhui province). Following a prescreening of 268 target compounds, we examined the occurrence, seasonal variation, and annual loads of 117 organic micropollutants, including 51 pesticides, 43 pharmaceuticals, 7 household and industrial chemicals, and 16 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). During the 14-month study, the maximum concentrations of particulate PAHs (1-5 μg/g), pesticides (11-284 ng/L), pharmaceuticals (5-224 ng/L), and household and industrial chemicals (4-430 ng/L) were generally lower than in other Chinese rivers due to the dilution caused of the Yangtze River's average water discharge of approximately 30,000 m(3)/s. The loads of most pesticides, anti-infectives, and PAHs were higher in the wet season compared to the dry season, which was attributed to the increased agricultural application of chemicals in the summer, an elevated water discharge through the sewer systems and wastewater treatment plants (WWTP) as a result of high hydraulic loads and the related lower treatment efficiency, and seasonally increased deposition from the atmosphere and runoff from the catchment. The estimated annual load of PAHs in the river accounted for some 4% of the total emission of PAHs in the whole Yangtze Basin. Furthermore, by using sucralose as a tracer for domestic wastewater, we estimate a daily disposal of approximately 47 million m(3) of sewage into the river, corresponding to 1.8% of its average hydraulic load. In summary, the annual amounts flushed by the Yangtze River into the East China Sea were 2.9×10(6)tons of dissolved and particulate organic carbon (DOC and POC), 369 tons of PAHs, 98 tons of pesticides, 152 tons of pharmaceuticals, and 273 tons of household and industrial chemicals. While the concentrations seem comparably moderate, the pollutant loads are considerable and pose an increasing burden to the health of the marine coastal ecosystem.