Department of Aquatic Sciences and Assessment, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Box 7050, 75007, Uppsala, Sweden; Department of Environmental Science and Analytical Chemistry, Stockholm University, Svante Arrheniusväg 12, 10691, Stockholm, Sweden.
Department of Chemistry, Umeå University, SE-901 87, Umeå, Sweden; Swetox, Karolinska Institute, Unit of Toxicology Sciences, Forskargatan 20, 151 36, Södertälje, Sweden.
Chemosphere. 2018 Oct;208:40-49. doi: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2018.05.094. Epub 2018 May 17.
Phthalate esters, suspected endocrine disrupting chemicals, are used in a wide range of applications. Because phthalate esters are not covalently bound, they can easily leach into the indoor environment and associate to dust particles. Thus, exposure may occur through inhalation, ingestion, or contact with the skin. However, it is unclear to what degree indoor dust contributes to the daily intake of phthalate esters. This study investigates household dust as an exposure pathway for seven phthalate esters, the monoester MEHP, and the plasticizer DINCH. Household dust collected from children's sleeping rooms and from living rooms were analysed using gas and liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry. To compare two exposure pathways, different dust particle sizes were generated: a respirable fraction (<5 μm) and an ingested particle fraction in the anticipated size range of skin adherence (<75 μm). Modelling of dust inhalation and ingestion showed that the daily intake of dust-bound phthalate esters was likely to be 2 times (inhalation) to 12 times (ingestion) higher for 21-month-old children than for adults. These children's daily uptake of phthalate esters was 40-140 times higher through ingestion than inhalation. Furthermore, dust may be an exposure pathway for phthalate esters as well as for MEHP. Therefore, phthalate monoesters could be environmental contaminants of their own and need to be considered in health risk assessments.
邻苯二甲酸酯类物质，一种疑似内分泌干扰化学物质，被广泛应用于各种领域。由于邻苯二甲酸酯类物质并非共价键结合，因此它们很容易渗出到室内环境中，并与灰尘颗粒结合。因此，人们可能会通过吸入、摄入或接触皮肤等途径接触到邻苯二甲酸酯类物质。然而，室内灰尘在多大程度上导致人们每日摄入邻苯二甲酸酯类物质，目前尚不清楚。本研究调查了家庭灰尘作为 7 种邻苯二甲酸酯类物质（单酯 MEHP 和增塑剂 DINCH）的暴露途径。研究使用气相色谱和液相色谱串联质谱法对儿童卧室和客厅的家庭灰尘进行了分析。为了比较两种暴露途径，研究生成了不同的灰尘颗粒大小：可吸入颗粒（<5μm）和预计与皮肤接触的颗粒（<75μm）。灰尘吸入和摄入的模拟表明，21 个月大的儿童通过吸入和摄入途径摄入的灰尘结合态邻苯二甲酸酯类物质，分别是成年人的 2 倍（吸入）到 12 倍（摄入）。与吸入相比，这些儿童通过摄入途径摄入的邻苯二甲酸酯类物质是其每日摄入量的 40-140 倍。此外，灰尘可能是邻苯二甲酸酯类物质以及 MEHP 的暴露途径。因此，邻苯二甲酸单酯类物质本身可能是环境污染物，需要在健康风险评估中加以考虑。
