Dechlorane plus (DP) in indoor and outdoor air of an urban city in South China: Implications for sources and human inhalation exposure

Dechlorane Plus (DP) is a chemical of emerging concern due to the restrictions on brominated flame retardant formulations. However, very little information is known about the occurrence of DP in indoor and outdoor air and its associated health risk to the exposed human population. In this study, we examined the concentrations and isomer profiles of DP in archived air samples collected from 14 homes, 6 offices, and 10 public microenvironments in Guangzhou, China in 2004-2005. The average (median) value of atmospheric sigma DP (sum of anti-DP and syn-DP) concentration in the three indoor air was 5.73 +/- 5.33 (3.62) for offices, 8.08 +/- 5.17 (6.87) for homes, and 57.27 +/- 83.08 (32.58) pg/m(3) for public microenvironments, respectively. sigma DP concentration was significantly higher in the public microenvironments than those in homes and offices. The arithmetic mean and median concentrations of sigma DP in outdoor air were 36.00 and 28.76pg/m(3), respectively. Spatially and temporally consistent indoor and outdoor samples comparison suggested that outdoor air might be a relevant source of DP for indoor air. Average anti-DP fractional abundance (f(anti) = 0.65 +/- 0.04) in all outdoor samples was similar to those reported in other studies and indistinguishable from that of the commercial mixture (f(anti) = 0.65). In contrast, a relatively large variation of f(anti) values was found in the indoor samples, suggesting a complex degradation process of DP existing in these microenvironments. The calculated average daily doses of sigma DP were in the range of 0.38-2.21ng/day for people intake through air inhalation, which was in the same order of magnitude compared with other exposure pathways for the general publics

Characteristics and Seasonal Variations of Carbonaceous Species in PM2.5 in Taiyuan, China

Seasonal characteristics of PM2.5, organic carbon (OC) and elemental carbon (EC) were studied in Taiyuan from 2009 to 2010. PM2.5 samples were collected by pre-baked quartz filters with high-volume air sampler, and then OC and EC were analyzed by thermal/optical reflectance method. The annual average concentrations of PM2.5, OC and EC were 220.2, 37.4 and 19.6 µg/m3 respectively, which were higher than those in most regions in China. Total carbonaceous aerosol (TCA) accounted for more than one third of the total PM2.5 mass. The levels of PM2.5, OC and EC were the highest in winter, followed by spring, fall and summer. OC and EC were well correlated in summer compared with other seasons, indicating the presence of other additional sources such as biomass burning in fall, coal combustion for heating in winter and dust in spring. Higher OC/EC ratios in winter might be primarily attributed to the significant increase of direct emission of OC as a result of coal and biomass combustion, and also cooling effect of carbonaceous aerosols due to low temperature and stagnated atmospheric condition. These results showed that the pollution of carbonaceous particles in Taiyuan was serious, and might be an inducing factor of dust haze, especially in winter

Distribution of the Soil PAHs and Health Risk Influenced by Coal Usage Processes in Taiyuan City, Northern China

The quality of urban soil is closely related to the safety of public places and the guarantee of food quality. This study investigated the level, distribution, source, and carcinogenic risk of 16 U.S. EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) priority polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in urban, agricultural, and montane soil in Taiyuan. The ∑16PAHs level varied from 104.78 to 6594.63 ng g−1 with a mean of 922.93 ng g−1, and 47.73% of the soil samples were severely contaminated, with a concentration higher than 600 ng g−1. PAHs with higher molecular weight (≥4 rings) were dominant in PAHs profiles accounting for 80.92%. In the spatial distribution of PAHs, hotspots of ∑16 PAHs were observed near the industries, indicating pollutants emitted by the industries directly affect the surrounding soil quality. The sources identified by positive matrix factorization (PMF) indicated: coal combustion (40.77%), vehicle exhausts (32.94%), biomass combustion (14.89%), and coking source (11.40%). Coal-related sources (coal and coking sources) were the major contributors (52.17%) to PAHs and carcinogenic risk (46.48%) assessed by BaP toxic equivalent concentration in total soils. Therefore, the extensive usage of coal was the leading factor for PAH pollution and health risk in Taiyuan soil

Dechlorane plus (DP) in indoor and outdoor air of an urban city in South China: Implications for sources and human inhalation exposure

<p>Dechlorane Plus (DP) is a chemical of emerging concern due to the restrictions on brominated flame retardant formulations. However, very little information is known about the occurrence of DP in indoor and outdoor air and its associated health risk to the exposed human population. In this study, we examined the concentrations and isomer profiles of DP in archived air samples collected from 14 homes, 6 offices, and 10 public microenvironments in Guangzhou, China in 2004–2005. The average (median) value of atmospheric ΣDP (sum of <i>anti-</i>DP and <i>syn-</i>DP) concentration in the three indoor air was 5.73 ± 5.33 (3.62) for offices, 8.08 ± 5.17 (6.87) for homes, and 57.27 ± 83.08 (32.58) pg/m³ for public microenvironments, respectively. ΣDP concentration was significantly higher in the public microenvironments than those in homes and offices. The arithmetic mean and median concentrations of ΣDP in outdoor air were 36.00 and 28.76 pg/m³, respectively. Spatially and temporally consistent indoor and outdoor samples comparison suggested that outdoor air might be a relevant source of DP for indoor air. Average <i>anti</i>-DP fractional abundance (<i>f</i>_anti = 0.65 ± 0.04) in all outdoor samples was similar to those reported in other studies and indistinguishable from that of the commercial mixture (<i>f</i>_anti = 0.65). In contrast, a relatively large variation of <i>f</i>_anti values was found in the indoor samples, suggesting a complex degradation process of DP existing in these microenvironments. The calculated average daily doses of ΣDP were in the range of 0.38–2.21 ng/day for people intake through air inhalation, which was in the same order of magnitude compared with other exposure pathways for the general publics.</p

Potential association between exposure to legacy persistent organic pollutants and parasitic body burdens in Indo-Pacific finless porpoises from the Pearl River Estuary, China

A high prevalence of infectious diseases (mostly lungworms) is found in finless porpoises (genus Neophocaena) in the coastal waters of China, which is one of the most dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT)- polluted areas worldwide, while its association with contaminant exposure remains undetermined. To address this gap, we investigated blubber levels of polychlorinated diphenyls (PCBs), organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in Indo- Pacific finless porpoises (Neophocaena phocaenoides) stranded in the Pearl River Estuary (PRE) of China. In the post- mortem examinations, lungworms (Halocercus species) were found to be the most common parasites, with a high density observed in lungs and bronchi. Severe infections by nematode parasites were also found in the uterus (Cystidicola species), intestine (Anisakis typica) and muscle (A. typica). For all the pollutant compounds analyzed, only the concentrations of p,p'-DDT, p,p'dichlorodiphenyldichloroethane (DDD) and o,p'-DDD were significantly higher in porpoises died of infectious diseases than in the "healthy" individuals (died from physical trauma). Contrasted accumulation pattern of DDTs and their metabolites was found between animals with different health status. The proportion of p, p'DDT in Sigma DDTs was higher than that of p,p'- dichlorodiphenyldichloroethylene (DDE) in diseased animals, whereas an opposite pattern was shown for "healthy" ones. While this study is the first to describe a significant positive correlation between parasitic diseases and high levels of DDTs in cetaceans, the direction of causality cannot be determined in our data: either a parasitic infection affected the porpoises' ability to metabolize DDTs, resulting in high levels of p,p'-DDT in their blubber, or the pollutant burden rendered them more susceptible to parasitic infection. (c) 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved