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Phthalates and Parabens in Personal Care Products From China: Concentrations and Human Exposure

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Abstract

Our previous studies showed that populations in China are widely exposed to phthalates and parabens. Nevertheless, sources of Chinese exposure to phthalates and parabens are not well understood. In this study, we measured concentrations of nine phthalates and six parabens in five categories of personal care products (PCPs, N = 52) collected from Tianjin, China, and estimated human exposure doses to these compounds. The most frequently detected phthalates and parabens in PCPs were diethyl phthalate (DEP) (detection frequency 54 %), methyl paraben (MeP), and n-propyl paraben (PrP) (~75 %). The concentrations of DEP in PCPs ranged from not detected (ND; <0.1 μg/g) to 937 μg/g. The highest concentrations of MeP and PrP were 2,826 and 1,564 μg/g, respectively. Median exposure dose to parabens through dermal application of PCPs in China was estimated at 18,700 μg/d, which was two orders of magnitude greater than that calculated for phthalates (45.5 μg/d). Hand and body lotions were the major contributors to exposures, and the daily exposure doses for DEP, MeP, and PrP from these products were 38.4, 10,200 and 4,890 μg, respectively.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by a biomonitoring grant (Grant No. 1U38EH000464-01) from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA, USA. We thank Jing Ma, Shanghai University, and Bao-Zhong Zhang, Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, for sample collection.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Wadsworth Center, New York State Department of Health, and Department of Environmental Health Sciences, School of Public Health, State University of New York at Albany, Empire State Plaza, P.O. Box 509, Albany, NY, 12201-0509, USA

    Ying Guo, Lei Wang & Kurunthachalam Kannan

  2. Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Pollution Process and Environmental Criteria, and Tianjin Key Laboratory of Environmental Remediation and Pollution Control, Nankai University, Tianjin, 300071, China

    Lei Wang

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  1. Ying Guo
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  2. Lei Wang
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Correspondence to Kurunthachalam Kannan.

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Guo, Y., Wang, L. & Kannan, K. Phthalates and Parabens in Personal Care Products From China: Concentrations and Human Exposure. Arch Environ Contam Toxicol 66, 113–119 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00244-013-9937-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00244-013-9937-x

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