Exposure, risk and predictors of hexabromocyclododecane and Tetrabromobisphenol-A in house dust from urban, rural and E-waste dismantling sites in Thailand

Sonthinee Waiyarat; Suwanna Kitpati Boontanon; Narin Boontanon; Shigeo Fujii; Stuart Harrad; Daniel Simon Drage; Mohamed Abou-Elwafa Abdallah

doi:10.1016/j.chemosphere.2022.134730

Exposure, risk and predictors of hexabromocyclododecane and Tetrabromobisphenol-A in house dust from urban, rural and E-waste dismantling sites in Thailand

Chemosphere. 2022 Sep:302:134730. doi: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2022.134730. Epub 2022 Apr 29.

Authors

Sonthinee Waiyarat¹, Suwanna Kitpati Boontanon², Narin Boontanon³, Shigeo Fujii⁴, Stuart Harrad⁵, Daniel Simon Drage⁶, Mohamed Abou-Elwafa Abdallah⁵

Affiliations

¹ Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Mahidol University, Nakhon Pathom, Thailand.
² Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Mahidol University, Nakhon Pathom, Thailand; Graduate School of Global Environmental Studies, Kyoto University, Yoshida, Sakyo-Ku, Kyoto, Japan. Electronic address: suwanna.boo@mahidol.ac.th.
³ Faculty of Environment and Resource Studies, Mahidol University, Nakhon Pathom, Thailand.
⁴ Graduate School of Global Environmental Studies, Kyoto University, Yoshida, Sakyo-Ku, Kyoto, Japan.
⁵ School of Geography, Earth & Environmental Sciences, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, B15 2TT, UK.
⁶ School of Geography, Earth & Environmental Sciences, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, B15 2TT, UK; Queensland Alliance for Environmental Health Sciences (QAEHS), The University of Queensland, 20 Cornwall Street, Woolloongabba, QLD, 4103, Australia.

PMID: 35500622
DOI: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2022.134730

Abstract

In this study, for the first time, we determined concentrations of hexabromocyclododecane (HBCDD) and tetrabromobisphenol-A (TBBPA) in house dust and estimated human exposure to these substances in houses located in an e-waste dismantling site and in urban and rural residential areas of Thailand. The median HBCDD concentration in urban residential houses (2.10 ng g^-1) was similar to that in houses in an e-waste dismantling site (2.05 ng g^-1, p > 0.05) and slightly higher than that in rural residential houses (1.11 ng g^-1, p > 0.05). In contrast, significantly higher TBBPA concentrations were present in house dust from an e-waste dismantling site (median = 720 ng g^-1; range = 44-2300 ng g^-1) compared to those in urban (68.6 ng g^-1; 3.5-300 ng g^-1, p < 0.001) and rural residential areas (17 ng g^-1; 2.0-201 ng g^-1, p < 0.001). TBBPA concentrations increased with the increasing presence of electronic devices and a decreasing distance to the e-waste dismantling site. These results suggest that e-waste dismantling activities may contribute to TBBPA contamination of house dust. The median estimated daily intake (EDI) of HBCDD and TBBPA through dust ingestion for toddlers exceeded that for children and adults. However, EDI values for HBCDD and TBBPA from all age groups were below the oral reference dose guideline value suggested by the US National Research Council and National Toxicology Program (NTP).

Keywords: Hexabromocyclododecane; House dust; Human exposure; Tetrabromobisphenol-A; e-waste.

MeSH terms

Adult
China
Dust / analysis
Electronic Waste* / analysis
Environmental Exposure / analysis
Environmental Monitoring / methods
Flame Retardants* / analysis
Humans
Hydrocarbons, Brominated
Thailand

Substances

Dust
Flame Retardants
Hydrocarbons, Brominated
hexabromocyclododecane