Risk Assessment of Dietary Exposure to Organophosphorus Flame Retardants in Children by Using HBM-Data
Veronika Plichta,
Johann Steinwider,
Nina Vogel,
Till Weber,
Marike Kolossa-Gehring,
Lubica Palkovičová Murínová,
Soňa Wimmerová,
Janja Snoj Tratnik,
Milena Horvat,
Gudrun Koppen,
Eva Govarts,
Liese Gilles,
Laura Rodriguez Martin,
Greet Schoeters,
Adrian Covaci,
Clémence Fillol,
Loïc Rambaud,
Tina Kold Jensen,
Elke Rauscher-Gabernig
Affiliations
Veronika Plichta
Austrian Agency for Health and Food Safety(AGES), Division of Integrative Risk Assessment, Data & Statistics, Department of Risk Assessment, 1220 Vienna, Austria
Johann Steinwider
Austrian Agency for Health and Food Safety(AGES), Division of Integrative Risk Assessment, Data & Statistics, Department of Risk Assessment, 1220 Vienna, Austria
Nina Vogel
German Environment Agency (UBA), 06844 Dessau-Roßlau, Germany
Till Weber
German Environment Agency (UBA), 06844 Dessau-Roßlau, Germany
Marike Kolossa-Gehring
German Environment Agency (UBA), 06844 Dessau-Roßlau, Germany
Lubica Palkovičová Murínová
Faculty of Public Health, Slovak Medical University, 833 03 Bratislava, Slovakia
Soňa Wimmerová
Faculty of Public Health, Slovak Medical University, 833 03 Bratislava, Slovakia
Janja Snoj Tratnik
Department of Environmental Sciences, Jožef Stefan Institute, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia
Milena Horvat
Department of Environmental Sciences, Jožef Stefan Institute, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia
Gudrun Koppen
VITO Health, Flemish Institute for Technological Research (VITO), 2400 Mol, Belgium
Eva Govarts
VITO Health, Flemish Institute for Technological Research (VITO), 2400 Mol, Belgium
Liese Gilles
VITO Health, Flemish Institute for Technological Research (VITO), 2400 Mol, Belgium
Laura Rodriguez Martin
VITO Health, Flemish Institute for Technological Research (VITO), 2400 Mol, Belgium
Greet Schoeters
VITO Health, Flemish Institute for Technological Research (VITO), 2400 Mol, Belgium
Adrian Covaci
Toxicological Center, University of Antwerp, 2610 Wilrijk, Belgium
Clémence Fillol
Santé Publique France, French Public Health Agency (ANSP), 94415 Saint-Maurice, France
Loïc Rambaud
Santé Publique France, French Public Health Agency (ANSP), 94415 Saint-Maurice, France
Tina Kold Jensen
Department of Environmental Medicine, Institute of Public Health, University of Southern Denmark, 5000 Odense, Denmark
Elke Rauscher-Gabernig
Austrian Agency for Health and Food Safety(AGES), Division of Integrative Risk Assessment, Data & Statistics, Department of Risk Assessment, 1220 Vienna, Austria
Due to their extensive usage, organophosphorus flame retardants (OPFRs) have been detected in humans and in the environment. Human are exposed to OPFRs via inhalation of indoor air, dust uptake or dietary uptake through contaminated food and drinking water. Only recently, few studies addressing dietary exposure to OPFRs were published. In this study, we used human biomonitoring (HBM) data of OPFRs to estimate how much the dietary intake may contribute to the total exposure. We estimated by reverse dosimetry, the daily intake of tris (2-chloroethyl) phosphate (TCEP), tris (1-chloro-2-propyl) phosphate (TCIPP), tris (1,3-dichloro-2-propyl) phosphate (TDCIPP) for children using HBM data from studies with sampling sites in Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Slovenia and Slovakia. For estimating the dietary exposure, a deterministic approach was chosen. The occurrence data of selected food categories were used from a published Belgium food basket study. Since the occurrence data were left-censored, the Lower bound (LB)—Upper bound (UB) approach was used. The estimated daily intake (EDI) calculated on the basis of urine metabolite concentrations ranged from 0.03 to 0.18 µg/kg bw/d for TDCIPP, from 0.05 to 0.17 µg/kg bw/d for TCIPP and from 0.02 to 0.2 µg/kg bw/d for TCEP. Based on national food consumption data and occurrence data, the estimated dietary intake for TDCIPP ranged from 0.005 to 0.09 µg/kg bw/d, for TCIPP ranged from 0.037 to 0.2 µg/kg bw/d and for TCEP ranged from 0.007 to 0.018 µg/kg bw/d (summarized for all countries). The estimated dietary intake of TDCIPP contributes 11–173% to the EDI, depending on country and LB-UB scenario. The estimated dietary uptake of TCIPP was in all calculations, except in Belgium and France, above 100%. In the case of TCEP, it is assumed that the dietary intake ranges from 6 to 57%. The EDI and the estimated dietary intake contribute less than 3% to the reference dose (RfD). Therefore, the estimated exposure to OPFRs indicates a minimal health risk based on the current knowledge of available exposure, kinetic and toxicity data. We were able to show that the dietary exposure can have an impact on the general exposure based on our underlying exposure scenarios.