Polybrominated diphenyl ethers and polychlorinated biphenyls in dust from cars, homes, and offices in Lagos, Nigeria

Abstract

Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) were measured in dust from 16 cars, 12 homes, and 18 offices in Lagos, Nigeria. These represent the first and second reports respectively of contamination of Nigerian indoor dust with these contaminants, and the second report on PCBs in car dust worldwide. Concentrations of BDE-47 and BDE-99 in two car dust samples (9300 and 3700 ng g(-1) for BDE-47 and 4200 and 19,000 ng g(-1) for BDE-99), are amongst the highest ever reported in car dust. ANOVA comparison with Canada, New Zealand, the UK, and the USA; reveals concentrations of BDEs-28, 49, 47, 66, 100, 99, 154, and 153 in Nigerian house dust, to be significantly lower than in Canada and the USA, with those of BDE-49 and 154 significantly lower than in New Zealand and the UK. Concentrations of BDE-209 in Nigeria were significantly lower than concentrations in the UK and the USA; while concentrations of PCB-180 were significantly greater than those in New Zealand, the UK, and the USA. Median concentrations of PCBs in cars were substantially higher than in the only previous study (in Kuwait and Pakistan). While median concentrations of PBDEs in cars generally exceeded those in homes, this was significant only for BDEs-49, 154, and 197, with concentrations in cars significantly greater than those in offices for BDEs-49 and 154. Contrastingly, concentrations of all target PCBs in offices exceeded significantly those in cars. This study underlines the truly global distribution of indoor contamination with PBDEs and PCBs.

Distribution of Polychlorinated biphenyls in Environmental samples from an electrical power station in Lagos, Nigeria

“…PCB 12 in dust sample was 272.6 ng/g. The concentration of target PCBs in dust obtained in this study were higher than that reported by [17] for PCBs in dust from some Nigerian micro-environment.…”

“…Obsolete transformers and electrical wastes are important sources of PCBs and other toxic, persistent organic pollutants. Various PCBs congeners have been detected and reported with significant levels in environmental matrices such as water, soil, dust, and sediment [10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17] as well as biological samples such as biota, human blood, adipose tissue and breast milk and also in aquatic animals like fishes [18][19][20][21].…”

Concentrations of polychlorinated biphenyls in soil and indoor dust associated with electricity generation facilities in Lagos, Nigeria

“…Concentrations of PCBs in dust from our Nigerian power station offices exceed those reported for PCBs in dust from Nigerian cars, homes and office (Harrad et al, 2016). They also exceed those in other previous studies, (Tue et al, 2013;Tan et al, 2007;Ali et al, 2012) reported PCBs in Vietnamese homes around e-waste sites; Singaporean, Kuwaiti, and Pakistani homes respectively; but are lower than those reported by Abafe andMartincigh, 2015 andZheng et al, 2015 for South African offices and homes around e-waste handling sites respectively.…”

“…Firstly, Abafe et al, 2015 measured concentrations of three PCB congeners (PCB 28,153,and 180) in indoor dust samples from ten homes, eleven offices, and thirteen computer laboratories in Durban, South Africa. The second report measured six indicator PCBs in dust samples from three microenvironment categories (homes, cars and offices) in Nigeria (Harrad et al, 2016). The present study measures concentrations of PCBs in dust and soil from the vicinity of power stations in Nigeria to test our hypothesis that such stations are a source of PCBs to the surrounding environment.…”

“…Both soil and dust samples were transported to the University of Birmingham for analysis. At Birmingham, the dust samples were sieved with a 500 µm sieve, using procedures similar to Harrad et al (2016). In Birmingham, both soil and dust samples were stored at 4 °C prior to analysis.…”