Toxic organic pollutants in Greek house dust: Implications for human exposure and health risk

Athanasios Besis; Elisavet Botsaropoulou; Dimitra Balla; Dimitra Voutsa; Constantini Samara

doi:10.1016/j.chemosphere.2021.131318

Toxic organic pollutants in Greek house dust: Implications for human exposure and health risk

Chemosphere. 2021 Dec:284:131318. doi: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2021.131318. Epub 2021 Jun 24.

Authors

Athanasios Besis¹, Elisavet Botsaropoulou², Dimitra Balla², Dimitra Voutsa², Constantini Samara²

Affiliations

¹ Environmental Pollution Control Laboratory, Department of Chemistry, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, GR, 54124, Thessaloniki, Greece. Electronic address: athanasb@chem.auth.gr.
² Environmental Pollution Control Laboratory, Department of Chemistry, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, GR, 54124, Thessaloniki, Greece.

PMID: 34192665
DOI: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2021.131318

Abstract

Organic contaminants often documented in house dust include mainly chemicals released from construction materials and consumer products and compounds emitted from indoor combustion activities. The occurrence of major chemical classes of toxic organic pollutants, included polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and nitrated polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (NPAHs), was for the first time investigated in house dust in Greece. The mean concentrations of ∑₁₆PAHs, ∑₂₀PBDEs, ∑₇NPAHs and∑₁₅PCBs in house dust were 4650 ng g^-1, 564 ng g^-1, 7.52 ng g^-1, and 6.29 ng g^-1, respectively. Exposure to dust organic contaminants via ingestion, inhalation and dermal absorption was estimated for two age classes (adults and children) and carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic risks were assessed. The hazard index (HI) for adults and children for PBDEs, PCBs, PAHs and NPAHs in all samples was less than 1 suggesting a very low level of concern for all human age group due to exposure to those chemicals. Total carcinogenic risk via the three exposure pathways (ingestion, inhalation and dermal contact) was within the safe range of 10^-6 to 10^-4.

Keywords: House dust; NPAHs; PAHs; PBDEs; PCBs; Risk assessment.

MeSH terms

Adult
Air Pollution, Indoor* / analysis
Child
Dust / analysis
Environmental Exposure / analysis
Environmental Monitoring
Environmental Pollutants*
Greece
Halogenated Diphenyl Ethers / analysis
Humans
Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons* / analysis

Substances

Dust
Environmental Pollutants
Halogenated Diphenyl Ethers
Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons