Contaminant pattern and bioaccumulation of legacy and emerging organhalogen pollutants in the aquatic biota from an e‐waste recycling region in South China

Abstract

Legacy pollutants, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), dichlorodiphenyl trichloroethane and its metabolites (DDTs), and some emerging organhalogen pollutants, such as polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), hexabromobenzene (HBB), pentabromotoluene (PBT), 2,3,4,5,6-pentabromoethyl benzene (PBEB), 1,2-bis (2,4,6-tribromophenoxy) ethane (BTBPE), and dechlorane plus (DP), were detected in an aquatic food chain (invertebrates and fish) from an e-waste recycling region in South China. Polychlorinated biphenyls, DDTs, PBDEs, and HBB were detected in more than 90% of the samples, with respective concentrations ranging from not detected (ND)-32,000 ng/g lipid weight, ND-850 ng/g lipid weight, 8 to 1,300 ng/g lipid weight, and 0.28 to 240 ng/g lipid weight. Pentabromotoluene, PBEB, BTBPE, and DP were also quantifiable in collected samples with a concentration range of ND-40 ng/g lipid weight. The elevated levels of PCBs and PBDEs in the organisms, compared with those in non-e-waste regions in South China, suggest that these two kinds of pollutants derived mainly from e-waste recycling practices. Hexabromobenzene was significantly correlated with PBDEs, implying that HBB come from the release of e-waste along with PBDEs and/or the pyrolysis of BDE209. Most of the compounds whose trophic magnification factor (TMF) could be calculated were found to biomagnify (TMF > 1). Hexabromobenzene was also found, for the first time, to biomagnify in the present food web, with a TMF of 2.1.

Persistent halogenated compounds in fish from rivers in the Pearl River Delta, South China: Geographical pattern and implications for anthropogenic effects on the environment

“…This result further demonstrated that e-waste recycling activities had an obvious influence on halogenated organic chemicals such as PCBs and PBDEs in the local river. This was in accordance with previous studies that characterized the e-waste recycling area as highly contaminated by PBDEs Zhang et al, 2010;Sun et al, 2012).…”

“…The exposure experiments in the laboratory revealed cyprinidae (common carp and tiger fish) and cichlidae (oscar fish) can debrominate some congeners with specific structures, for example BDE 99 and congeners with at least one metaor para-doubly flanked bromine atom, to form low bromiated congeners while no debromination occurred in catfish (redtail catfish, Phractocephalus hemiliopterus) (Zeng et al, 2012;Luo et al, 2013). The catfish (Clarias batrachus) collected in the e-waste recycling area, as in the present study, also exhibited a high BDE 99 abundance (Zhang et al, 2010). Plecostomus is a member of the catfish family; little or no debromination occurs in this fish species.…”

“…In the mud carp from the pond in the e-waste recycling area, PCBs were the predominant contaminants accounting for 86.7% of total PHCs, followed by PBDEs (12.6%), while DDTs were less than 1% of total PHCs. That PHCs such as PCBs and PBDEs derived from industrial sources outnumbered PHCs derived from agrochemical sources was also observed in several aquatic organisms and water birds collected from the same e-waste recycling site Zhang et al, 2010). Thus, the contaminant pattern at site B1 shifting from DDTdominant to PCB-dominant can be ascribed to the influence of e-waste activities in the upper reach.…”

Levels and sources of brominated flame retardants in human hair from urban, e-waste, and rural areas in South China

“…Although BTBPE is used as a replacement of octa-BDE, the low detection frequency and concentration in hair and dust in the present study indicated that the environment in the study area might be less subject to this compound's contamination. Similar results were also found in aquatic biota and birds from the same area in our previous studies (Zhang et al, 2010).…”

Biota-sediment accumulation factors for Dechlorane Plus in bottom fish from an electronic waste recycling site, South China

“…Following Hoh's study, several other reports have revealed that DP was present in numerous environmental matrix including air, dust, soil, water, and sediment (Jia et al, 2011;Ma et al, 2011;Qi et al, 2010;Qiu et al, 2007Qiu et al, , 2010Ren et al, 2008;Shen et al, 2011;Wang et al, 2010aWang et al, , 2010bYu et al, 2010), wildlife (Gauthier and Letcher, 2009;Guerra et al, 2011;Jia et al, 2011;Muñoz-Arnanz et al, 2011;Shen et al, 2011;Tomy et al, 2007;Wu et al, 2010;Zhang et al, 2010), and even human beings (Ren et al, 2009;Zheng et al, 2010) from various parts of the world, indicating the prevalence of this chemical in the environment. The detection of DP in the sediment cores (Hoh et al, 2006;Qiu et al, 2007) suggested the environmental persistence of this compound.…”