Abstract
It remains unclear whether internal or external sources play the more significant role in flame retardant (FR) contamination of surface dust from personal computers (PCs), which may lead to bias on dermal exposure assessment of FRs. In the present study, the occurrence and profiles of several brominated and phosphate FRs were measured in the interior dust, and the upper surface (keyboard) and bottom surface (bottom cover) wipes of PCs. BDE 209 (639 ng/g), decabromodiphenyl ethane (DBDPE, 885 ng/g), and triphenyl phosphate (TPHP, 1880 ng/g) were the most abundant chemicals in interior PC dust, while tris(2-chloroisopropyl) phosphate (TCIPP), TPHP, and DBDPE were dominant on both surfaces of PCs. No significant correlation between interior dust and both PC surfaces was observed for concentrations of most FRs except BDE 183. Different sources of FRs for interior and surface dust of PCs were further revealed by principal component analysis (PCA). FRs from external sources, rather than emission from inner PC components, are likely the main contributor for FR profiles on PC surfaces. Exposure assessment results demonstrated a minor contribution from PC dermal contact, compared with hand-to-mouth uptake, to total exposure. The applicability of surface wipes to assess dermal exposure to FR-treated products needs to be further investigated.
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Funding
This study was financially supported by the Guangzhou Science and Technology Program (No. 201707020033), National Natural Science Foundation of China (No.41573088), Guangdong Foundation for Program of Science and Technology Research (Nos. 2017B030314057 and 2017BT01Z134), Key Research Program of Frontier Sciences, the Chinese Academy of Sciences (QYZDJ-SSW-DQC018), and Post-doctoral Research Funding of Huangpu District and Guangzhou Development District, Guangzhou City (PM-zx799-202003-107).
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Yu, L., Ru, S., Zheng, X. et al. Brominated and phosphate flame retardants from interior and surface dust of personal computers: insights into sources for human dermal exposure. Environ Sci Pollut Res 28, 12566–12575 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-11132-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-11132-0