Contemporary Flame Retardants Exposures: Firefighters vs. Non-Occupationally Exposed Groups

摘要

Introduction: Because of the phase-out of polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), flame retardant formulations containing mixtures of chlorinated and non-chlorinated organophosphates, and other non-BDE brominated flame retardant chemicals have entered consumers markets. Understanding exposure to these contemporary flame retardants is of public health interest as components of these formulations are frequently detected in many consumer products. Methods: We assessed exposure to nine contemporary flame retardants by measuring the following urinary biomarkers: diphenyl phosphate (DPhP), bis(1,3-dichloro-2-propyl) phosphate (BDCPP), bis(1-chloro-2-propyl) phosphate (BCPP), bis(2-chloroethyl) phosphate (BCEtP), di-p-cresylphosphate (DpCP), di-o-cresylphosphate (DoCP), dibutyl phosphate (DBuP), dibenzyl phosphate (DBzP), and 2,3,4,5-tetrabromobenzoic acid (TBBA). We measured the concentrations of these metabolites in 76 urine samples collected in Atlanta in 2015 from adults with no known flame retardant occupational exposure and compared them to those from a group of 146 firefighters collected in 2010-2011 after performing structural firefighting while wearing full protective clothing and a SCBA respirator. Results: DPhP (median: 0.89; range: 0.26-5.6 ng/mL) and BDCPP (median: 0.69; range: 0.31-6.8 ng/mL) were detected in all of the non-occupationally exposed samples and all of the firefighters samples (DPhP [median: 2.9; range: 0.24-28 ng/mL], BDCPP [median: 3.4; range: 0.30-44 ng/mL]) with median concentrations of DBCPP and DPhP about five and three times higher in the firefighters, respectively. DBzP and DoCP were not detected in any of the samples. Conclusions: The results suggest exposure to several contemporary flame retardants in the general population and firefighters having occupational exposures higher than background exposures. We plan to obtain reference range concentrations of these biomarkers from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey samples.