Organophosphorus flame retardants and plasticizers in marine and fresh water biota and in human milk

Abstract

The levels and relative proportions of 11 organophosphorus flame retardants and plasticizers (OPs), some of which are reportedly toxic to aquatic organisms, were investigated in human breast milk and samples of fish and mussels from Swedish lakes and coastal areas in order to assess spatial differences in environmental exposure and spatial and temporal differences in human exposure. Some of the biota samples were collected at locations with known potential sources of OPs, but most were collected in background locations. Tris-2-chloroisopropyl phosphate (TCPP) and triphenyl phosphate (TPP) dominated in the biota with levels ranging from 170 to 770 ng g(-1) for TCPP in perch and between 21 and 180 ng g(-1) for TPP. In milk samples, TCPP (median 45 ng g(-1)) and tributyl phosphate (median 12 ng g(-1)) were the most frequently occurring OPs. Among samples of fish from background locations, the concentrations and profiles of most OPs were quite similar, indicating that their sources were diffuse. However, in fish from sample locations near known sources, there were marked differences in OP concentrations and profiles. Fish from a stream receiving surface water from Arlanda airport displayed high levels of OPs (10 200 ng g(-1)) that are commonly used in aircraft hydraulic fluids. Fish collected at points 1 or 2 km downstream of sewage treatment plants showed significantly higher levels of tris(2-butoxyethyl) phosphate (TBEP), one of the most typically abundant OP in effluents from such plants. In the milk samples obtained from women in different towns no distinct differences were detected in OP concentrations or profiles. However, the levels of TBEP tended to be higher in milk collected 10 years ago than in milk collected more recently. However, human exposure to OPs through eating fish or to breastfeeding babies seems to be of minor importance in relation to other potential sources, such as indoor dust inhalation and ingestion.

Understanding the distribution, degradation and fate of organophosphate esters in an advanced municipal sewage treatment plant based on mass flow and mass balance analysis

“…Along with their widespread production and application, OPEs can be slowly released into the environment by volatilization, leaching and abrasion (Sundkvist et al, 2010). As a result, they are now widely present in various environmental matrices worldwide, including water (Wang et al, 2011;Rodil et al, 2005;Marklund et al, 2005), soil Mihajlovic et al, 2011), air (Moller et al, 2011;Moller et al, 2012), sediment (Cristale and Lacorte, 2013) and biota (Kim et al, 2011).…”

“…As a result, they are now widely present in various environmental matrices worldwide, including water (Wang et al, 2011;Rodil et al, 2005;Marklund et al, 2005), soil Mihajlovic et al, 2011), air (Moller et al, 2011;Moller et al, 2012), sediment (Cristale and Lacorte, 2013) and biota (Kim et al, 2011). Moreover, OPEs have already been detected in human milk (Sundkvist et al, 2010) and their metabolites were also found in human urine (van den Eede et al, 2013;Reemtsma et al, 2011;Schindler et al, 2009). However, due to the main toxic effects including eye and skin irritation, carcinogenicity, dermatitis, and neurotoxicity (Moller et al, 2012;, OPEs were reported to show potential risk to human health.…”

Evaluating the blank contamination and recovery of sample pretreatment procedures for analyzing organophosphorus flame retardants in waters

“…The widespread application of OPEs may lead to their diffusive spread into the environment by volatilization, leaching and abrasion (Sundkvist et al, 2010). As a result, OPEs are now widely present in indoor and outdoor environments, such as in surface water (Wang et al, 2011;Bacaloni et al, 2008), ground water (Regnery et al, 2011), and wastewater (Rodil et al, 2005;Marklund et al, 2005), as well as in airborne particles (Möller et al, 2011(Möller et al, , 2012, indoor dust (Marklund et al, 2003;Van den Eede et al, 2012;Yang et al, 2014) and soils (Fries and Mihajlovic, 2011).…”

“…Moreover, OPEs in the environment can enter the bodies of animals and humans via skin (Möller et al, 2012), the respiratory system, and diet. Currently, OPEs have already been detected in marine and fresh water biota (Sundkvist et al, 2010;Kim et al, 2011), human milk (Sundkvist et al, 2010), and human plasma (Shah et al, 2006), and their metabolites were also found in human urine (Reemtsma et al, 2011).…”

UAE-SPE-UHPLC-UV Method for the Determination of Flame Retardants in Fish Tissues

“…The advantage for this extraction was high recovery values but extraction time was quite long and ranged from 4 to 48 h. Some of the researchers also used classic solvent extraction; nevertheless, recovery values were not always high enough and the consumption of solvents was high (Nyholm et al 2008, Asante et al 2013, Kim et al 2011. Very popular in those kind of matrices was accelerated solvent extraction (ASE, PLE), which can lead to very high recovery values in a short time (Xia et al 2011, Haukas et al 2009, Feng et al 2010, Ilyas et al 2013, ten Dam et al 2012, Gao et al 2014, Sundkvist et al 2010. Less popular, however, not worse extraction techniques were ultrasound-assisted extraction (UAE) (Remberger et al 2004), microwave assisted extraction (MAE) (Ma et al 2013) and matrix solid-phase dispersion (MSPD) (Campone et al 2010).…”