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Status of phthalate esters in tobacco cultivation soils and its health risk to Chinese people

  • Soils, Sec 3 • Remediation and Management of Contaminated or Degraded Lands • Research Article
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Abstract

Purpose

Phthalate esters (PAEs) have been and remain the most widely used plasticizers worldwide, and they are also the most frequently detected environmental pollutants. It is known that the management style and agricultural inputs should play a critical role in the PAE contamination. However, the status of six priority controlled PAEs remains unclear in soils used for tobacco on farms that are under the compulsorily management of national tobacco company.

Materials and methods

The samples included soils, water, and fertilizers were collected from tobacco cultivation sites in the Shandong province. The six priority controlled PAEs were extracted from the samples according to the reported methods, and they were analyzed using a GC-TQ-MS/MS under MRM mode. The hazard quotients and carcinogenic risks for people by gender and age were assessed first time by the recommended method of US Environmental Protection Agency.

Results and discussion

Soils were contaminated by PAEs from 218.4 to 1168.9 μg kg−1, with the average value of 611.1 μg kg−1. More than 80% Σ6PAEs consisted of DBP and DEHP, and regional characteristics of Shandong province showed the highest content of DBP. Besides plastic film, agricultural inputs such as irrigation water and fertilizers were also the PAE sources. At present, the non-cancer risk has not exceeded the threshold of 1, and carcinogenic risk was still low in the range of 10−6–10−4 with the highest risk of DEHP exposure through dietary consumption.

Conclusions

Pollution status of PAEs in tobacco cultivation soils and its health risk to Chinese people were already present at low levels. Thus, we should pay more attention to PAE contamination in order to prevent further deterioration, particularly for the DEHP exposure to middle-aged people.

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Funding

This project was financially supported by the Central Public-Interest Scientific Institution Basal Research Fund (1610232019005), the National Agricultural Product Quality and Safety Risk Assessment Project (GJFP2019034), and the Agricultural Science and Technology Innovation Program (ASTIPTRIC06).

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Author notes

  1. Dean Song and Huiqing Sun contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Agriculture Ministry Laboratory of Quality & Safety Risk Assessment for Tobacco, Tobacco Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Qingdao, 266101, China

    Dean Song, Huiqing Sun, Yingjie Yang, Xiaolin Wang, Yan Sun, Xiuhua Liu, Mengjiao Huang, Chao Feng, Yijia Zhuang & Fanyu Kong

  2. State Agriculture Ministry Laboratory of Quality & Safety Risk Assessment for Fragrant Plant, Tobacco Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Qingdao, 266101, China

    Dean Song & Jiguang Zhang

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  1. Dean Song
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Correspondence to Jiguang Zhang or Fanyu Kong.

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Song, D., Sun, H., Yang, Y. et al. Status of phthalate esters in tobacco cultivation soils and its health risk to Chinese people. J Soils Sediments 21, 307–318 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11368-020-02773-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11368-020-02773-2

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