1. Inhalation bioaccessibility and health risk assessment of flame retardants in indoor dust from Vietnamese e-waste-dismantling workshops
- Author
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Go Suzuki, Tatsuya Kunisue, Pham Hung Viet, Tatiya Wannomai, Natsuyo Uchida, Shin Takahashi, Fumitake Takahashi, Le Huu Tuyen, and Hidenori Matsukami
- Subjects
animal structures ,Environmental Engineering ,010504 meteorology & atmospheric sciences ,010501 environmental sciences ,Risk Assessment ,01 natural sciences ,Electronic Waste ,chemistry.chemical_compound ,Asian People ,Halogenated Diphenyl Ethers ,Humans ,Environmental Chemistry ,Waste Management and Disposal ,Chemical risk ,Flame Retardants ,0105 earth and related environmental sciences ,Inhalation exposure ,Health risk assessment ,Inhalation ,Dust ,Environmental Exposure ,Pollution ,Organophosphates ,Hazard quotient ,Vietnam ,chemistry ,Air Pollution, Indoor ,Environmental chemistry ,Tetrabromobisphenol A - Abstract
Although bioaccessibility testing is applied worldwide for appropriate chemical risk assessment, few studies have focused on the bioaccessibility of flame retardants (FRs), especially inhalation exposure. This study assessed inhalation exposure to FRs in indoor dust by workers at e-waste-dismantling workshops in northern Vietnam, by using modified simulated epithelial lung fluid (SELF) and artificial lysosomal fluid (ALF). The average mass concentrations of FRs were 130,000 ng/g for workplace dust (n = 3), 140,000 ng/g for floor dust (n = 3), and 74,000 ng/g for settled dust (n = 2), whereas the average bioaccessible concentrations of FRs were 1900, 1400, and 270 ng/g in the SELF condition and 2600, 770, and 490 ng/g in the ALF condition, respectively. Results clearly indicate that the bioaccessible concentrations of FRs are markedly lower than their mass concentrations. Tris(2-chloroethyl) phosphate (TCEP, ~19%), tris(2-chloroisopropyl) phosphate (TCIPP, ~35%), and tris(1,3-dichloroisopropyl) phosphate (TDCIPP, ~22%) showed comparably high bioaccessibility in both SELF and ALF conditions. In contrast, the bioaccessibility of tetrabromobisphenol A (TBBPA, ~20%) was high in the SELF condition, but not in the ALF condition. With regard to the test compounds' physicochemical properties, the inhalation bioaccessibility of FRs in both conditions increased as molecular weight or octanol–water partition coefficient decreased, and it decreased as water solubility decreased. Health risk assessment clearly indicated that the hazard quotient of FRs via inhalation exposure for workers in the e-waste-dismantling workshops was less than 1, suggesting that the inhalation exposure to FRs during indoor dismantling of e-waste at this site was negligible based on the current methodology of non-cancer health risk assessment used in this study.
- Published
- 2021