Wilford Bryony H, Harner Tom, Zhu Jiping, Shoeib Mahiba, Jones Kevin C
Environment Canada, Meteorological Service of Canada, Air Quality Research Branch, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Environ Sci Technol. 2004 Oct 15;38(20):5312-8. doi: 10.1021/es049260x.
The polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) are widely used as flame retardants in plastics of soft furnishings, TV sets and computers, and insulation in the indoor environment. The penta-BDEs--now banned in most parts of Europe but still used in North America--are additive flame retardants that may be released to the indoor environment via volatilization or as dusts. In this study, to investigate general population PBDE exposure, air was sampled in 74 randomly selected homes in Ottawa, Canada and at seven outdoor sites during the winter of 2002--3, using polyurethane foam (PUF) disk passive air samplers. The passive sampling rate (2.5 m3 day(-1)) was determined through a pilot study employing active and passive samplers side-by-side at selected indoor locations. Indoor air concentrations of PBDEs were log-normally distributed with a geometric mean of 120 pg m(-3) and a median of 100 pg m(-3), approximately 50 times higher than the range of outdoor air concentrations (<0.1-4.4 pg m(-3)). The maximum daily human exposure via the inhalation pathway based on median PBDE levels found in this survey was estimated to be 1.9 ng day(-1) (female) and 2.0 ng day(-1) (male), representing 4.1% (f) and 4.4% (m) of overall daily intake.
多溴二苯醚（PBDEs）被广泛用作软家具、电视机和电脑塑料中的阻燃剂以及室内环境中的绝缘材料。五溴二苯醚——目前在欧洲大部分地区已被禁止，但仍在北美使用——是添加型阻燃剂，可通过挥发或粉尘形式释放到室内环境中。在本研究中，为调查普通人群的多溴二苯醚暴露情况，于2002年至2003年冬季，使用聚氨酯泡沫（PUF）盘式被动空气采样器，在加拿大渥太华随机选取的74户家庭以及7个室外地点采集空气样本。通过在选定室内地点同时使用主动和被动采样器的初步研究确定了被动采样率（2.5立方米/天）。室内空气中多溴二苯醚的浓度呈对数正态分布，几何平均值为120皮克/立方米，中位数为100皮克/立方米，大约比室外空气浓度范围（<0.1 - 4.4皮克/立方米）高50倍。根据本次调查中多溴二苯醚的中位数水平，经吸入途径的最大每日人体暴露量估计为1.9纳克/天（女性）和2.0纳克/天（男性），分别占每日总摄入量的4.1%（女性）和4.4%（男性）。
