Wilkins Ken, Bøwadt Søren, Larsen Kjeld, Sporring Sune
National Institute of Occupational Health, Lersø Parkallé 105, DK-2100 Copenhagen, Denmark.
Environ Sci Pollut Res Int. 2002;9(3):166-8. doi: 10.1007/BF02987483.
Although PCB in caulking materials has been forbidden for many years in most of Europe, including Denmark, there has been continued interest to measure PCB levels in the air of contaminated buildings and blood of the occupants (Mengon and Schlatter 1993, Fromme et al. 1996, Ewers et al. 1998, Currado and Harrad 1998, Gabrio et al. 2000). The relatively low priority for investigations of this contamination is probably due to the small quantities inhaled compared to exposure via food, and the rapid metabolism of the most volatile congeners demonstrated by low concentrations of all congeners in the blood of exposed persons (Ewers et al. 1998, Gabrio et al. 2000). There is, however, evidence that PCB containing caulking materials have been used even during the '90s (Fromme et al. 1996). In Denmark, it is estimated that 75 t PCB is still in buildings (Organization of Sealant Branch's Manufacturers and Distributors 2000). During an investigation of dust from buildings with excessive microbial growth (including 35 rooms from 9 buildings), the analysis of semivolatile compounds by thermal desorption-GC/MS of samples from a single building surprisingly revealed large amounts of PCBs containing 3, 4 and 5 chlorine atoms, 10-20 times the amounts found in samples from other buildings. Extraction of the dust by SFE followed by GC/ECD analysis for 12 PCB congeners showed that there was approximately 20 times the total PCB concentrations in dust from the polluted building compared to the levels in the other buildings. Subsequent headspace analysis of caulking material from the polluted building revealed this to be the source. Shelf dust functions as a passive sampling medium and, thus, can be used as a screening method to detect PCB and other semivolatile pollution indoors.
尽管在包括丹麦在内的欧洲大部分地区，密封材料中的多氯联苯在多年前就已被禁用，但人们仍持续关注对受污染建筑物空气中以及居住者血液中的多氯联苯水平进行测量（Mengon和Schlatter，1993年；Fromme等人，1996年；Ewers等人，1998年；Currado和Harrad，1998年；Gabrio等人，2000年）。对这种污染进行调查的优先级相对较低，可能是因为与通过食物接触相比，吸入的量较少，而且暴露人群血液中所有同系物浓度较低，这表明大多数挥发性同系物的代谢速度很快（Ewers等人，1998年；Gabrio等人，2000年）。然而，有证据表明，即使在20世纪90年代仍有人使用含多氯联苯的密封材料（Fromme等人，1996年）。在丹麦，据估计仍有75吨多氯联苯存在于建筑物中（密封剂行业制造商和经销商组织，2000年）。在对微生物过度生长的建筑物中的灰尘进行调查时（包括来自9栋建筑物的35个房间），通过热脱附-气相色谱/质谱联用仪对来自一栋建筑物的样品进行半挥发性化合物分析，令人惊讶地发现含有3、4和5个氯原子的大量多氯联苯，其含量是其他建筑物样品中含量的10至20倍。用超临界流体萃取法萃取灰尘，随后对12种多氯联苯同系物进行气相色谱/电子捕获检测分析表明，受污染建筑物灰尘中的多氯联苯总浓度约为其他建筑物中浓度的20倍。随后对受污染建筑物的密封材料进行顶空分析，发现这就是污染源。架子灰尘可作为一种被动采样介质，因此可作为检测室内多氯联苯和其他半挥发性污染物的一种筛选方法。
