Concentrations of selected chemicals in indoor air from Norwegian homes and schools

Amrit Kaur Sakhi; Enrique Cequier; Rune Becher; Anette Kocbach Bølling; Anders R Borgen; Martin Schlabach; Norbert Schmidbauer; Georg Becher; Per Schwarze; Cathrine Thomsen

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.04.086

Concentrations of selected chemicals in indoor air from Norwegian homes and schools

Sci Total Environ. 2019 Jul 15:674:1-8. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.04.086. Epub 2019 Apr 9.

Affiliations

¹ Division of Infection Control and Environmental Health, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, PO Box 222, Skøyen, N-0213 Oslo, Norway. Electronic address: amrit.sakhi@fhi.no.
² Division of Infection Control and Environmental Health, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, PO Box 222, Skøyen, N-0213 Oslo, Norway.
³ Norwegian Institute for Air Research, PO Box 100, 2027, Kjeller, Norway.
⁴ Division of Infection Control and Environmental Health, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, PO Box 222, Skøyen, N-0213 Oslo, Norway; Department of Chemistry, University of Oslo, PO Box 1033, Blindern, 0315 Oslo, Norway.

PMID: 31003082
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.04.086

Abstract

Both building materials and consumer products have been identified as possible sources for potentially hazardous substances like phthalates, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), organophosphorous flame retardants (OPFRs), polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) and short chain chlorinated paraffins (SCCPs) in indoor air. Thus, indoor air has been suggested to contribute significantly to human exposure to these chemicals. There is lack of data on the occurrence of several of the aforementioned chemicals in indoor air. Therefore, indoor air (gas and particulate phase) was collected from 48 households and 6 classrooms in two counties in Norway. In both the households and schools, median levels of low molecular weight phthalates (785 ng/m³), OPFRs (55 ng/m³) and SCCPs (128 ng/m³) were up to 1000 times higher than the levels of PCBs (829 pg/m³) and PBDEs (167 pg/m³). Median concentrations of dimethyl phthalate (DMP), diethyl phthalate (DEP), di-isobutyl phthalate (DiBP) and SCCPs were 3-6 times higher in households compared to schools. The levels of OPFRs, PCBs and PBDEs were similar in households and schools. In univariate analysis, the indoor concentrations of different environmental chemicals were significantly affected by location of households (OPFRs), airing of living room (some PCBs and PBDEs), presence of upholstered chair/couch (OPFRs), pet animal hold (some PBDEs) and presence of electrical heaters (selected PCBs and PBDEs). Significant correlations were also detected for the total size of households with OPFRs, frequency of vacuuming the living room with selected PCBs and PBDEs, frequency of washing the living room with selected PCBs and the total number of TVs in the households with selected phthalates and SCCPs. Finally, intake estimates indicated that indoor air contributed more or equally to low molecular weight phthalates and SCCPs exposure compared to food consumption, whereas the contribution from indoor air was smaller than the dietary intake for the other groups of chemicals.

Keywords: Indoor air; Organophosphorous flame retardants; Phthalates; Polybrominated diphenyl ethers; Polychlorinated biphenyls; Short-chain chlorinated paraffins.

MeSH terms

Air Pollutants / analysis*
Air Pollution, Indoor / analysis*
Air Pollution, Indoor / statistics & numerical data
Dust / analysis
Environmental Monitoring*
Flame Retardants / analysis
Halogenated Diphenyl Ethers / analysis
Housing / statistics & numerical data
Humans
Norway
Paraffin / analysis
Phthalic Acids
Polychlorinated Biphenyls / analysis
Schools / statistics & numerical data

Substances

Air Pollutants
Dust
Flame Retardants
Halogenated Diphenyl Ethers
Phthalic Acids
dimethyl phthalate
phthalic acid
Paraffin
Polychlorinated Biphenyls
diethyl phthalate