Search

The interest for environmental issues and the concern resulting from the potential exposure to contaminants were the starting point to develop methodologies in order to evaluate the consequences that those might have over both the environment and human health. Considering the feature of POPs, including PBDEs, such as bioaccumulation, biomagnification, long-range transport and adverse effects even long time after exposure, risk assessment of POPs requires specific approaches and tools. In this particular context, the MERLIN-Expo tool was used to assess the aquatic environmental exposure of Adige River to PBDEs and the accumulation of PBDEs in humans through the consumption of possible contaminated local aquatic food. The aquatic food web models provided as output of the deterministic simulation the time trend of concentrations for twenty years of BDE-47 and total PBDEs, expressed using the physico-chemical properties of BDE-47, in aquatic organisms of the food web of Adige River. For BDE-47, the highest accumulated concentrations were detected for two benthic species: Thymallus thymallus and Squalius cephalus whereas the lowest concentrations were obtained for the pelagic specie Salmo trutta marmoratus. The trend obtained for the total PBDEs, calculated using the physico-chemical properties of BDE-47, follows the one of BDE-47. For human exposure, different BDE-47 and total PBDEs concentration trends between children, adolescent, adults and elderly were observed, probably correlated with the human intake of fish products in the daily diet and the ability to metabolize these contaminants. In detail, for the adolescents, adults and elderly a continuous accumulation of the target contaminants during the simulation's years was observed, whereas for children a plateau at the end of the simulation period was perceived., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Classic (polybromodiphenyl ethers, PBDEs) and emerging halogenated flame retardants (HFRs) such as decabromodiphenyl ethane (DBDPE) and halogenated norbornenes, as well as organophosphate flame retardants (OPFRs) were analysed in 52 sediments and 27 fish samples from three European river basins, namely the Evrotas (Greece), the Adige (Italy) and the Sava (Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia). This is the first time that FR levels have been reported in these three European river basins. The highest contamination was found in the Adige and Sava rivers, whereas lower values were obtained for the Evrotas. The levels in sediment samples ranged between 0.25 and 34.0ng/g dw, and between 0.31 and 549ng/g dw, for HFRs and OPFRs respectively. As regards levels in fish, concentrations ranged between 9.32 and 461ng/g lw and between 14.4 and 650ng/g lw, for HFRs and OPFRs, respectively. Thus, whereas OPFR values were higher in sediments, similar concentrations (in the Evrotas) and even lower concentrations than HFRs (Sava) were found for OPFRs in the fish samples, indicating the lower bioaccumulation potential of OPFRs. Biota to sediment accumulation factors (BSAFs) were calculated and higher values were obtained for HFRs compared to those assessed for OPFRs., (Copyright © 2017 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

A fast on-line analytical method based on turbulent flow chromatography (TFC) in combination with tandem mass spectrometry (MS-MS) has been applied for the analysis of fourteen organophosphorus flame retardants (OPFRs) in sediment and fish samples. Applying this technique, time-consuming sample preparation steps were eliminated. The extraction was performed by ultrasound liquid extraction for biota and by pressurized liquid extraction for sediments. After extraction, environmental and biotic extracts were directly injected to the chromatographic system and analytes were concentrated into the cleanup loading column. Thereafter, analytes were transferred into the analytical column for subsequent detection by MS-MS. Analytical parameters showed acceptable recoveries (between 47 and 112% for sediment, and between 47 and 98% for fish) with very low relative standard deviations (always below 8.8% for sediment, and below 16% for fish). Moreover, mLODs and mLOQs are similar or even lower than those reported in other works using off-line methodologies. mLODs ranged between 0.02 and 1.25ng/g dry weight (dw) and between 0.19 and 19.3ng/g lipid weight (lw) for sediments and fish samples, respectively. The applicability of the developed methodology was demonstrated by the analysis of real samples, corresponding to river sediments as well as river and marine fish samples. OPFRs were detected in all samples, with values up to 549ng/g dw, 15.8ng/g lw and 646ng/g lw for sediment, marine fish and river fish, respectively., (Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)