Emerging halogenated flame retardants and hexabromocyclododecanes in food samples from an e-waste processing area in Vietnam

Emerging halogenated flame retardants (HFRs) and hexabromocyclododecanes (HBCDs) accumulate in human foodstuffs in a Vietnamese e-waste handling area.</p

Direct contact between dust and HBCD-treated fabrics is an important pathway of source-to-dust transfer

Hexabromocyclododecanes (HBCDs) are a class of brominated flame retardant that have found extensive application in consumer products used widely in indoor environments. Although uncertainty remains about the human health impacts of HBCDs, ingestion of HBCD-contaminated indoor dust has been shown to be a particularly significant exposure pathway for young children. Despite this, understanding of the mechanisms via which HBCD transfer from products to indoor dust remains incomplete. In this study, an in-house test chamber was used to investigate transfer of HBCDs from a treated textile sample to indoor dust via direct textile: dust contact. Results were compared with previous data using the same test chamber to examine other pathways via which HBCDs transfer from products to dust, and highlighted HBCD transfer via direct source: dust contact as being particularly important. This novel finding was corroborated by complementary experiments that examined HBCD transfer via direct contact, from other treated textiles to three major components of indoor dust: artificial indoor dust, soil particles, and cotton linters. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

An international comparative study of end-of-life vehicle (ELV) recycling systems

End-of-life vehicles (ELV) have become a global concern as automobiles have become popular worldwide. An international workshop was held to gather data and to discuss 3R policies and ELV recycling systems, their background and present situation, outcomes of related policies and programs, the framework of recycling and waste management, and case studies on related topics in several countries and regions, as well as the essential points of the comparison. Legislative ELV recycling systems are established in the EU, Japan, Korea, and China, while in the US, ELV recycling is managed under existing laws on environmental protection. Since automobile shredding residue (ASR) has a high calorific value and ash content, and includes heavy metals as well as a mass of unclassified fine particles, recycling ASR is considered highly difficult. Countries with a legislative ELV system commonly set a target for recovery rates, with many aiming for more than 95 % recovery. In order to reach this target, higher efficiency in ASR recovery is needed, in addition to material recycling of collectable components and metals. Environmentally friendly design was considered necessary at the planning and manufacturing stages, and the development of recycling systems and techniques in line with these changes are required for sound ELV management

Identification of major dioxin-like compounds and androgen receptor antagonist in acid-treated tissue extracts of high trophic-level animals

We evaluated the applicability of combining in vitro bioassays with instrument analyses to identify potential endocrine disrupting pollutants in sulfuric acid-treated extracts of liver and/or blubber of high trophic-level animals. Dioxin-like and androgen receptor (AR) antagonistic activities were observed in Baikal seals, common cormorants, raccoon dogs, and finless porpoises by using a panel of rat and human cell-based chemical-activated luciferase gene expression (CALUX) reporter gene bioassays. On the other hand, no activity was detected in estrogen receptor α (ERα)-, glucocorticoid receptor (GR)-, progesterone receptor (PR)-, and peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ2 (PPARγ2)-CALUX assays with the sample amount applied. All individual samples (n = 66) showed dioxin-like activity, with values ranging from 21 to 5500 pg CALUX-2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin equivalent (TEQ)/g-lipid. Because dioxins are expected to be strong contributors to CALUX-TEQs, the median theoretical contribution of dioxins calculated from the result of chemical analysis to the experimental CALUX-TEQs was estimated to explain up to 130% for all the tested samples (n = 54). Baikal seal extracts (n = 31), but not other extracts, induced AR antagonistic activities that were 8-150 μg CALUX-flutamide equivalent (FluEQ)/g-lipid. p,p′-DDE was identified as an important causative compound for the activity, and its median theoretical contribution to the experimental CALUX-FluEQs was 59% for the tested Baikal seal tissues (n = 25). Our results demonstrate that combining in vitro CALUX assays with instrument analysis is useful for identifying persistent organic pollutant-like compounds in the tissue of wild animals on the basis of in vitro endocrine disruption toxicity. © 2011 American Chemical Society

Particle size distribution of brominated flame retardants in house dust from Japan

The present study was conducted to examine the concentrations, profiles, and mass distributions of polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), hexabromocyclododecanes (HBCDs), and polybrominated dibenzo-p-dioxins/furans (PBDD/Fs) based on the particle sizes of house dust samples from five homes in Japan. After removal of impurities from house dust from vacuum cleaner bags, selected indoor dust samples were size fractionated (>2 mm, 1–2 mm, 0.5–1 mm, 250–500 μm, 106–250 μm, 53–106 μm, and 250 μm in size and fluffy dust were included. The conclusion is that particulate dust <250 μm in size without fluffy dust should be used to analyze dust for brominated flame retardants