Health risk assessment of human exposures to phthalate esters in indoor dust from daycare centers, kindergartens and elementary schools in Taiwan

摘要

Background Phthaiate esters (PAEs) exposure associated with harmful health effects has been raising public concerns. Results of the recent studies show that PAEs are ubiquitous indoors. Aims The major goal of the current study was to investigate the occurrence and concentration of PAEs in indoor dust from kindergartens (including daycare centers) and elementary schools in Taiwan and to assess human exposure and health risk to these PAEs. Methods Most of sampling sites were selected from Tainan and Kaoshiung cities.Samplings were conducted between January 2011 and December 2012. Fifty-five indoor dust samples were collected by vacuum suction from twenty schools and analyzed for six phthalates (DMP, DEP, DBP, BBP, DEHP, and DNOP) by GC-MS method. Results The major phthaiate were DEHP (100% detected) and DNOP (100% detected) with median concentrations of 520 μg/g dust (range:14.2 - 42,397.1 μg/g dust) and 135.1 μg/g dust (range: 7.0 - 2,307.3 μg/g dust), respectively. The mean concentrations for DMP, DEP, DBP and BBP were 2.9, 4.8, 6.4,1.9 μg/g dust, respectively. Total PAEs concentrations in indoor dust from element schools were relatively higher than that of kindergartens and daycare centers. Conclusions Estimated average daily doses of phthalates from ingestion, dermal and inhalation exposures are less than the reference doses (RfD) established by US EPA and tolerable daily intake (TDI) set by EFSA. The difference in exposure estimates between children and adults in this study supports previous reports that children are at greater risk from pollutants that accumulate indoors.