Banks Andrew P W, Wang Xianyu, He Chang, Gallen Michael, Thomas Kevin V, Mueller Jochen F
QAEHS, Queensland Alliance for Environmental Health Sciences, The University of Queensland, 20 Cornwall Street, Woolloongabba, QLD 4102, Australia.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2021 Mar 16;18(6):3030. doi: 10.3390/ijerph18063030.
Firefighters' uniforms become contaminated with a wide range of chemicals, including polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), organophosphate flame retardants (OPFRs), and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs). Laundering practices do not completely remove PAHs, OPFRs, and PBDEs from firefighting uniforms. This residual contamination of firefighting ensembles may be an ongoing source of exposure to firefighters. Firefighters are known to occasionally store firefighting ensembles in private vehicles. This study aimed to assess whether a firefighting uniform in a vehicle could act as a source for PAHs, OPFRs, and PBDEs to vehicle users. The shell layers of four laundered firefighting uniforms were sampled non-destructively. Three of these uniforms were heated in a laboratory oven (40, 60, and 80 °C) while the fourth was placed in a private vehicle on a summer day and off-gassing samples were collected from the uniforms. The off-gassing results for PAHs and OPFRs were relatively consistent between laboratory oven and the in-vehicle sample with ∑ PAHs in off-gas ranging from 7800-23,000 ng uniform day, while the ∑ OPFRs off-gassed was an order of magnitude lower at 620-1600 ng uniform day. The off-gassing results for PBDEs were much lower and less consistent between the experiments, which may reflect differences in uniform history. Currently, there is limited understanding of how PAHs, OPFRs, and PBDEs off-gassed from firefighting uniforms influence firefighter exposure to these chemicals. These findings suggest that firefighting ensembles off-gassing in private vehicles could be a relevant source of PAHs, OPFRs, and PBDEs that contributes to firefighters' exposure and that this warrants further investigation.
消防员的制服会被多种化学物质污染，包括多环芳烃（PAHs）、有机磷酸酯阻燃剂（OPFRs）和多溴二苯醚（PBDEs）。洗涤方法并不能完全去除消防制服上的PAHs、OPFRs和PBDEs。消防制服的这种残留污染可能是消防员持续接触这些物质的一个来源。众所周知，消防员偶尔会将消防制服存放在私家车中。本研究旨在评估车内的消防制服是否会成为车辆使用者接触PAHs、OPFRs和PBDEs的一个来源。对四件洗涤过的消防制服的外壳层进行了无损采样。其中三件制服在实验室烘箱中加热（40、60和80°C），而第四件则在夏季放置在一辆私家车中，并从制服上采集了脱气样品。PAHs和OPFRs的脱气结果在实验室烘箱和车内样品之间相对一致，废气中的∑PAHs范围为7800 - 23000 ng/制服·天，而脱气的∑OPFRs则低一个数量级，为620 - 1600 ng/制服·天。PBDEs的脱气结果要低得多，且实验之间不太一致，这可能反映了制服使用历史的差异。目前，对于消防制服释放出的PAHs、OPFRs和PBDEs如何影响消防员接触这些化学物质的了解有限。这些发现表明，私家车中消防制服的脱气可能是PAHs、OPFRs和PBDEs的一个相关来源，导致消防员接触这些物质，这值得进一步研究。
