Environmental Working Group, Washington, DC 20009, USA.
Environ Sci Technol. 2010 Jul 1;44(13):5256-62. doi: 10.1021/es1009357.
While young children are rarely included in biomonitoring studies, they are presumed to be at greater risk of ingesting environmental contaminants-particularly those that accumulate in foods or shed from consumer products. The widely used fire retardants polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) are ubiquitous contaminants in the indoor environment and are widely detected at higher levels in Americans than in individuals from other countries. However, there are only three studies of PBDEs in U.S. children. We hypothesized that PBDEs are present in higher concentrations in young children than their mothers. PBDEs were assessed in blood samples collected concurrently from 20 mothers and their children, ages 1.5 to 4 years. The chemical analyses were performed by GC/MS applying selected ion monitoring. The samples were analyzed for 20 PBDE congeners; 11 were detected. SigmaPBDEs for children were typically 2.8 times higher than for mothers, with median child:mother ratios varying from 2 to 4 for individual congeners. In 19 of 20 families studied, children had higher SigmaPBDE concentrations than their mothers with significant (p < 0.01) concentration differences for five of the PBDE congeners. Decabromodiphenyl ether (BDE-209) was quantitated in 13 children and 9 mothers. Other studies indicate PBDEs are not elevated at birth, suggesting that early life is an intense period of PBDE intake. Children's increased hand-to-mouth activity, dietary preferences, and exposures from breast milk may result in greater ingestion of PBDEs than adults. These findings suggest that measurements from adults likely do not reflect exposures to young children despite sharing homes and similar diets.
尽管很少有儿童被纳入生物监测研究，但人们认为他们摄入环境污染物的风险更大，尤其是那些在食物中积累或从消费品中释放出来的污染物。广泛使用的阻燃剂多溴二苯醚（PBDEs）是室内环境中无处不在的污染物，其在美国人群中的检出水平普遍高于其他国家。然而，仅有三项关于美国儿童体内 PBDEs 的研究。我们假设 PBDEs 在幼儿体内的浓度高于其母亲。从年龄在 1.5 至 4 岁的 20 位母亲及其子女身上采集了血液样本，同步对其进行了 PBDE 检测。采用选择离子监测的气相色谱/质谱法进行了化学分析。对 20 种 PBDE 同系物进行了分析，共检测到 11 种。儿童的 SigmaPBDEs 浓度通常比母亲高 2.8 倍，个别同系物的儿童与母亲比值中位数从 2 到 4 不等。在所研究的 20 个家庭中，有 19 个家庭的儿童体内 SigmaPBDEs 浓度高于母亲，其中 5 种 PBDE 同系物的浓度差异具有统计学意义（p < 0.01）。在 13 个儿童和 9 个母亲体内定量检测到了十溴二苯醚（BDE-209）。其他研究表明，PBDEs 在出生时并未升高，这表明生命早期是 PBDE 摄入的高峰期。儿童的手口活动增加、饮食偏好以及从母乳中暴露，可能导致其摄入的 PBDEs 比成人更多。这些发现表明，尽管与幼儿共享家庭和类似的饮食，但成年人的测量值可能并不能反映幼儿的暴露情况。
