Levels of common semivolatile organic compounds in settled house dust of urban dwellings

Objective To investigate levels of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons(PAHs),phthalate esters(PEs),polybrominated diphenyl ethers(PBDEs)and phenols in settled house dust of urban dwellings with preschoolers in Nanjing city and their health risk.Methods Totally 215 preschool-aged children were randomly selected from four largest public kindergartens in a district of Nanjing.Settled house dust in the bedroom of the children was collected with a vacuum cleaner.Fifteen PAHs,6 PEs,8 PBDEs and 5 phenols were measured.The health risks of the exposure levels were evaluated by the risk index(RI)calculated with tolerable daily intake(TDI)or reference dose(RfD)reported in the literature.Results The detection rates of all PAHs were >90%.The main PAHs were those with 4 or more rings and the maximum total PAH concentration was up to 280 μg/g.Di-2-ethylhexyl phthalate(DEHP)showed the highest detection rate and mass concentration.The maximum total PE concentration was up to 10 900 μg/g.The maximum decabromodiphenyl ether(BDE209)concentration was up to 9 390 ng/g.The detection rates of bisphenol A and triclosan(TCS)were 100%,with the maximum concentrations 2 490 and 42 500 ng/g,respectively.The RIs of maximum benzoapyrene toxic equivalents,DEHP and BDE99 intake were 2.0,1.8 and 4.0,respectively.Conclusion PAHs,PEs,PBDEs and phenols are ubiquitous in urban house dust from bedrooms of preshool children in Nanjing city with high detection rate of DEHP and high concentrations of BDE-209,BpA and TCS.