Concentrations of Tetrabromobisphenol-A and hexabromocyclododecane in Thai child daycare centre dust and the exposure risk for young children

Sonthinee Waiyarat; Suwanna Kitpati Boontanon; Narin Boontanon; Stuart Harrad; Daniel Simon Drage; Mohamed Abou Elwafa Abdallah; Kanitthika Santhaweesuk

doi:10.1016/j.emcon.2023.100229

Concentrations of Tetrabromobisphenol-A and hexabromocyclododecane in Thai child daycare centre dust and the exposure risk for young children

Sonthinee Waiyarat, Suwanna Kitpati Boontanon^*, Narin Boontanon, Stuart Harrad, Daniel Simon Drage, Mohamed Abou Elwafa Abdallah, Kanitthika Santhaweesuk

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

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Abstract

Children spend one-third of their day in child daycare centres, where they may be exposed to toxic chemicals, such as tetrabromobisphenol-A (TBBPA) and hexabromocyclododecane (HBCDD), from indoor dust. However, studies on the exposure of TBBPA and HBCDD in schools remain scarce, especially in Thailand, where no such study has yet been reported. Therefore, in this study, we collected dust samples from 20 child daycare centres in Thailand and analysed them for flame retardants, TBBPA and HBCDD. TBBPA was detected in all samples with a median concentration of 35 ng g⁻¹ (range, 14–5017.7 ng g⁻¹). The median level of HBCDD was lower than the quantitation limit (LOQ) with <LOQ to 86.6 ng g⁻¹ of dust sample. The electronic density score was calculated from the number of electronic appliances divided by each sampled surface floor area that revealed an abundance of TBBPA in the dust in rooms with many electronic items. The use of electronic devices, especially printers, that were found to be related to the high TBBPA concentration in the room, should be minimised in child daycare centres. The children's exposure to these chemicals from dust was estimated for dust ingestion and dermal absorption. The combined exposure was lower than the established reference dose value, and the hazard quotient for children via these two pathways were ranged 0.7 × 10⁻⁶ – 2.7 × 10⁻⁴ for TBBPA and 1.8 × 10⁻⁵ – 4.9 × 10⁻⁵ for HBCDD, which did not exceed 1.0. Although there is uncertainty regarding the potential health effects of long-term exposure to these substances, it is undeniable that child daycare centres represent a source of exposure to these substances for children. Further investigation of other intake routes of several flame retardants in child daycare centres and identification of the sources of these substances is warranted to decrease children's health risks from exposure to these harmful substances in child daycare centres.

Original language	English
Article number	100229
Journal	Emerging Contaminants
Volume	9
Issue number	3
Early online date	20 Apr 2023
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.emcon.2023.100229
Publication status	Published - Sept 2023

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
This work was supported by research funding from the Royal Golden Jubilee (RGJ) Ph.D. Programme Scholarship from the Thailand Research Fund ( PHD/0129/2559 ), the Fundamental Fund ( BRF2-NDFR29/2564 ) from Mahidol University, Thailand , and the On-site Laboratory Initiative of Kyoto University, Japan . We are also grateful to the government agencies and teachers responsible for the child daycare centres for allowing us to collect all samples.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 The Authors

Keywords

Child daycare centre
Dust
Electronic devices
Exposure assessment
Flame retardant
Hexabromocyclododecane
Tetrabromobisphenol-A

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Toxicology
Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health
Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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Cite this

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title = "Concentrations of Tetrabromobisphenol-A and hexabromocyclododecane in Thai child daycare centre dust and the exposure risk for young children",

abstract = "Children spend one-third of their day in child daycare centres, where they may be exposed to toxic chemicals, such as tetrabromobisphenol-A (TBBPA) and hexabromocyclododecane (HBCDD), from indoor dust. However, studies on the exposure of TBBPA and HBCDD in schools remain scarce, especially in Thailand, where no such study has yet been reported. Therefore, in this study, we collected dust samples from 20 child daycare centres in Thailand and analysed them for flame retardants, TBBPA and HBCDD. TBBPA was detected in all samples with a median concentration of 35 ng g−1 (range, 14–5017.7 ng g−1). The median level of HBCDD was lower than the quantitation limit (LOQ) with <LOQ to 86.6 ng g−1 of dust sample. The electronic density score was calculated from the number of electronic appliances divided by each sampled surface floor area that revealed an abundance of TBBPA in the dust in rooms with many electronic items. The use of electronic devices, especially printers, that were found to be related to the high TBBPA concentration in the room, should be minimised in child daycare centres. The children's exposure to these chemicals from dust was estimated for dust ingestion and dermal absorption. The combined exposure was lower than the established reference dose value, and the hazard quotient for children via these two pathways were ranged 0.7 × 10−6 – 2.7 × 10−4 for TBBPA and 1.8 × 10−5 – 4.9 × 10−5 for HBCDD, which did not exceed 1.0. Although there is uncertainty regarding the potential health effects of long-term exposure to these substances, it is undeniable that child daycare centres represent a source of exposure to these substances for children. Further investigation of other intake routes of several flame retardants in child daycare centres and identification of the sources of these substances is warranted to decrease children's health risks from exposure to these harmful substances in child daycare centres.",

keywords = "Child daycare centre, Dust, Electronic devices, Exposure assessment, Flame retardant, Hexabromocyclododecane, Tetrabromobisphenol-A",

author = "Sonthinee Waiyarat and Boontanon, {Suwanna Kitpati} and Narin Boontanon and Stuart Harrad and Drage, {Daniel Simon} and Abdallah, {Mohamed Abou Elwafa} and Kanitthika Santhaweesuk",

note = "Funding Information: This work was supported by research funding from the Royal Golden Jubilee (RGJ) Ph.D. Programme Scholarship from the Thailand Research Fund ( PHD/0129/2559 ), the Fundamental Fund ( BRF2-NDFR29/2564 ) from Mahidol University, Thailand , and the On-site Laboratory Initiative of Kyoto University, Japan . We are also grateful to the government agencies and teachers responsible for the child daycare centres for allowing us to collect all samples. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2023 The Authors",

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journal = "Emerging Contaminants",

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AU - Waiyarat, Sonthinee

AU - Boontanon, Suwanna Kitpati

AU - Boontanon, Narin

AU - Harrad, Stuart

AU - Drage, Daniel Simon

AU - Abdallah, Mohamed Abou Elwafa

AU - Santhaweesuk, Kanitthika

N1 - Funding Information: This work was supported by research funding from the Royal Golden Jubilee (RGJ) Ph.D. Programme Scholarship from the Thailand Research Fund ( PHD/0129/2559 ), the Fundamental Fund ( BRF2-NDFR29/2564 ) from Mahidol University, Thailand , and the On-site Laboratory Initiative of Kyoto University, Japan . We are also grateful to the government agencies and teachers responsible for the child daycare centres for allowing us to collect all samples. Publisher Copyright: © 2023 The Authors

PY - 2023/9

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N2 - Children spend one-third of their day in child daycare centres, where they may be exposed to toxic chemicals, such as tetrabromobisphenol-A (TBBPA) and hexabromocyclododecane (HBCDD), from indoor dust. However, studies on the exposure of TBBPA and HBCDD in schools remain scarce, especially in Thailand, where no such study has yet been reported. Therefore, in this study, we collected dust samples from 20 child daycare centres in Thailand and analysed them for flame retardants, TBBPA and HBCDD. TBBPA was detected in all samples with a median concentration of 35 ng g−1 (range, 14–5017.7 ng g−1). The median level of HBCDD was lower than the quantitation limit (LOQ) with <LOQ to 86.6 ng g−1 of dust sample. The electronic density score was calculated from the number of electronic appliances divided by each sampled surface floor area that revealed an abundance of TBBPA in the dust in rooms with many electronic items. The use of electronic devices, especially printers, that were found to be related to the high TBBPA concentration in the room, should be minimised in child daycare centres. The children's exposure to these chemicals from dust was estimated for dust ingestion and dermal absorption. The combined exposure was lower than the established reference dose value, and the hazard quotient for children via these two pathways were ranged 0.7 × 10−6 – 2.7 × 10−4 for TBBPA and 1.8 × 10−5 – 4.9 × 10−5 for HBCDD, which did not exceed 1.0. Although there is uncertainty regarding the potential health effects of long-term exposure to these substances, it is undeniable that child daycare centres represent a source of exposure to these substances for children. Further investigation of other intake routes of several flame retardants in child daycare centres and identification of the sources of these substances is warranted to decrease children's health risks from exposure to these harmful substances in child daycare centres.

AB - Children spend one-third of their day in child daycare centres, where they may be exposed to toxic chemicals, such as tetrabromobisphenol-A (TBBPA) and hexabromocyclododecane (HBCDD), from indoor dust. However, studies on the exposure of TBBPA and HBCDD in schools remain scarce, especially in Thailand, where no such study has yet been reported. Therefore, in this study, we collected dust samples from 20 child daycare centres in Thailand and analysed them for flame retardants, TBBPA and HBCDD. TBBPA was detected in all samples with a median concentration of 35 ng g−1 (range, 14–5017.7 ng g−1). The median level of HBCDD was lower than the quantitation limit (LOQ) with <LOQ to 86.6 ng g−1 of dust sample. The electronic density score was calculated from the number of electronic appliances divided by each sampled surface floor area that revealed an abundance of TBBPA in the dust in rooms with many electronic items. The use of electronic devices, especially printers, that were found to be related to the high TBBPA concentration in the room, should be minimised in child daycare centres. The children's exposure to these chemicals from dust was estimated for dust ingestion and dermal absorption. The combined exposure was lower than the established reference dose value, and the hazard quotient for children via these two pathways were ranged 0.7 × 10−6 – 2.7 × 10−4 for TBBPA and 1.8 × 10−5 – 4.9 × 10−5 for HBCDD, which did not exceed 1.0. Although there is uncertainty regarding the potential health effects of long-term exposure to these substances, it is undeniable that child daycare centres represent a source of exposure to these substances for children. Further investigation of other intake routes of several flame retardants in child daycare centres and identification of the sources of these substances is warranted to decrease children's health risks from exposure to these harmful substances in child daycare centres.

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Concentrations of Tetrabromobisphenol-A and hexabromocyclododecane in Thai child daycare centre dust and the exposure risk for young children

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

UN SDGs

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