Determination of chlordecone in indoor dust by GC/MS/MS and associated human exposure in the French West Indies.

Chlordecone (CLD) is an organochlorine pesticide with various toxicities, widely used from 1972 to 1993 in the French West Indies lands (FWI, Guadeloupe and Martinique). It can remain in environment leading to indoor contamination by pollutants coming from outside. Therefore, investigating indoor pollutants is necessary due to the potential indoor dust ingestion though hand-to-mouth contact, in particular for children. No chemical analytical method measures CLD in indoor dust and we propose to investigate its presence in this specific compartment, in Martinique. CLD was analyzed from dust samples taken from homes and schools (n = 47). We extracted CLD from dust with pressure liquid extraction (PLE) using a suitable mixture solvent of hexane and ethyl acetate (85:15). This was followed with gas chromatography coupled to tandem spectrometry (GC/MS/MS) analysis. A sampled mass of 25 mg was optimal for analysis. Concentrations of CLD in indoor dust varied from < 16-247 ng/g. Exposure to CLD through indoor dust ingestion was also assessed and does not exceed 1.5 % and 0.1 %, of the acceptable daily intake, in children and adults, respectively. However, this exploratory study was conducted on a very limited number of dust samples limiting the generalization to the whole French West Indies population.