Selected organohalogenated flame retardants in Egyptian indoor and outdoor environments: Levels, sources and implications for human exposure

The Science of the Total Environment
Mohammed A Khairy, Rainer Lohmann

Abstract

There is scant information on the presence of the polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) and other alternative flame-retardants (NFRs) in Africa. Hence, to investigate their levels, sources, and human exposure scenarios, elevated fine dust (EFD) samples from apartments (n = 12), working places (n = 9) and cars (n = 12), floor dust (FD) samples (n = 5) and outdoor dust samples (n = 21) were collected from Alexandria, Egypt, during 2014. Gaseous concentrations were estimated using low density polyethylene sheets (n = 33 and 21 for indoor and outdoor sites, respectively). Indoor gaseous and dust PBDE (7.0-300 pg/m3; 4.0-770 ng/g), and NFR (0.40-48 pg/m3; 0.50-8.5 ng/g) concentrations were significantly higher (p = 0.004-0.02) than outdoor concentrations (PBDEs: 3.0-41 pg/m3, 1.5-195 ng/g; NFRs: 0.20-13 pg/m3, 0.50-4.0 ng/g). Median PBDE concentration in cars (210 ng/g) was higher than in apartments and working places (130  ng/g respectively). PBDE concentrations in FD were 7.0-14-folds lower than EFD concentrations. Outdoor PBDE concentrations were significantly higher (p < 0.01) at residential-industrial places with older buildings. All samples were dominated by BDE-47 and 99. HBB, BTBPE and DDC-CO were the most abundant NFRs in ...Continue Reading

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