Long-Term Temporal Trends of Polychlorinated Biphenyls and Their Controlling Sources in China

Zhao, Shizhen; Breivik, Knut; Liu, Guorui; Zheng, Minghui; Jones, Kevin C.; Sweetman, Andrew J.

doi:10.1021/acs.est.6b05341

Cited by 43 publications

(35 citation statements)

References 46 publications

(143 reference statements)

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“…7,8 Much of this attention has arisen because of the presence of PCBs in imported e-wastes. 9,10 Indeed, it was reported that airborne PCBs in China increased from 2004 to 2008 11 at a time when the trend in other parts of the world was the opposite. [12][13][14] PCBs emitted into the atmosphere can originate from both intentionally produced (IP-PCBs) and unintentionally-produced (UP-PCBs) sources.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evidence for Major Contributions of Unintentionally Produced PCBs in the Air of China: Implications for the National Source Inventory

Zhao

Jones

et al. 2019

Environ. Sci. Technol.

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Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) were not widely manufactured or used in China before they became the subject of international bans on production. Recent work has shown they have reached China associated with imported wastes, and that there are considerable unintentional sources of PCBs that have only recently been identified. As such, it was hypothesised that the source inventory and profile of PCBs may be different or unique in China, compared to countries where they were widely used and which have been widely studied. For the first time in this study we therefore undertook a complete analysis of 209 PCB congeners and assessed the contribution of unintentionally-produced PCBs (UP-PCBs) in the atmosphere of China, using polyurethane foam passive air samplers (PUF-PAS) deployed across a wide range of Chinese locations. ∑209 PCBs ranged from 9 to 6856 pg/m 3 (median: 95 pg/m 3 ) during three deployments in 2016-2017. PCB 11 was one of the most detected congeners, contributing 33±19% to ∑209 PCBs. The main sources to airborne PCBs in China were estimated and ranked as pigment/painting (34%), metallurgical industry/combustion (31%), e-waste (23%) and petrochemical/plastic industry (6%). For typical Aroclor-PCBs, e-waste source dominated (>50%). Results from our study indicate that UP-PCBs have become the controlling source in the atmosphere of China and an effective control strategy is urgently needed to mitigate emissions from multiple industrial sources.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evidence for Major Contributions of Unintentionally Produced PCBs in the Air of China: Implications for the National Source Inventory

Zhao

Jones

et al. 2019

Environ. Sci. Technol.

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“…Because PCBs were intentionally produced chemicals, reliable data on trends in their production are readily available (Table 1). Globally, the production of PCBs worldwide has been estimated at approximately 1.3 million tons (Zhao et al, 2017) and peaked in the 1960s–1970s.…”

Section: Historical Production and Use Of Pcbs Worldwidementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Examples of PCB concentrations in environmental archives from polluted sites are shown in Table 3. Contamination from PCBs within heavily industrialized regions has been mostly caused by leakage from systems containing these compounds (Zhao et al, 2017). Extreme pollution of soils and fluvial sediments close to the condenser plant in the city of Serpukhov (Russia) resulted in Σ 7 PCB concentrations up to 1169 mg/kg in soil and 119 mg/kg in sediment (Malina and Mazlova, (2017).…”

Section: Trends In Pcbs Pollution Recorded In Environmental Archivesmentioning

confidence: 99%

A consideration of polychlorinated biphenyls as a chemostratigraphic marker of the Anthropocene

Gałuszka

Migaszewski

2020

The Anthropocene Review

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Polychlorinated biphenyls, organic pollutants of anthropogenic origin, were widely used in many industrial applications worldwide roughly from the 1930s to the 1970s. Both the use and disposal of polychlorinated biphenyls contributed to their ubiquity in different environmental compartments, and they show extremely high persistence because of their high physical and chemical stability. Concentrations of polychlorinated biphenyls in environmental archives located in different parts of the world usually show an initial increase in the 1940s–1950s and maxima in the 1960s–1970s followed by a sharp decline following the ban in their use. Thus, the increase in polychlorinated biphenyl concentrations would appear to be suitable as a chronostratigraphic marker in Anthropocene strata. This manuscript discusses the polychlorinated biphenyls record in different environmental archives in the context of temporal and spatial trends in production and application of these compounds as well as the advantages and disadvantages of the use of polychlorinated biphenyls in the chemostratigraphy of the Anthropocene series.

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“…This is due to the low environmental concentrations both in China and the rest of the world after production bans were introduced. Unintentionally-produced PCBs have gradually taken a more important role in China, 23 thus human body burdens would be slightly higher for people eating locally sourced food up to 2030. But the unintentional emission of PCBs was only calculated domestically, which may cause potential underestimation for people eating imported food.…”

Section: Impact Of Food Originmentioning

confidence: 99%

Modeling the Time-Variant Dietary Exposure of PCBs in China over the Period 1930 to 2100

Zhao

Breivik

Jones

et al. 2018

Environ. Sci. Technol.

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This study aimed for the first time to reconstruct historical exposure profiles for PCBs to the Chinese population, by examining the combined effect of changing temporal emissions and dietary transition. A long-term (1930-2100) dynamic simulation of human exposure using realistic emission scenarios, including primary emissions, unintentional emissions, and emissions from e-waste, combined with dietary transition trends was conducted by a multimedia fate model (BETR-Global) linked to a bioaccumulation model (ACC-HUMAN). The model predicted an approximate 30-year delay of peak body burden for PCB-153 in a 30-year-old Chinese female, compared to their European counterpart. This was mainly attributed to a combination of change in diet and divergent emission patterns in China. A fish-based diet was predicted to result in up to 8 times higher body burden than a vegetable-based diet (2010-2100). During the production period, a worst-case scenario assuming only consumption of imported food from a region with more extensive production and usage of PCBs would result in up to 4 times higher body burden compared to consumption of only locally produced food. However, such differences gradually diminished after cessation of production. Therefore, emission reductions in China alone may not be sufficient to protect human health from PCB-like chemicals, particularly during the period of mass production. The results from this study illustrate that human exposure is also likely to be dictated by inflows of PCBs via the environment, waste, and food.

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Long-Term Temporal Trends of Polychlorinated Biphenyls and Their Controlling Sources in China

Cited by 43 publications

References 46 publications

Evidence for Major Contributions of Unintentionally Produced PCBs in the Air of China: Implications for the National Source Inventory

Evidence for Major Contributions of Unintentionally Produced PCBs in the Air of China: Implications for the National Source Inventory

A consideration of polychlorinated biphenyls as a chemostratigraphic marker of the Anthropocene

Modeling the Time-Variant Dietary Exposure of PCBs in China over the Period 1930 to 2100

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