Abstract
Many legacy and emerging flame retardants (FRs) have adverse human and environmental health effects. This study reports legacy and emerging FRs in children from nine European countries from the HBM4EU aligned studies. Studies from Belgium, Czech Republic, Germany, Denmark, France, Greece, Slovenia, Slovakia, and Norway conducted between 2014 and 2021 provided data on FRs in blood and urine from 2136 children. All samples were collected and analyzed in alignment with the HBM4EU protocols. Ten halogenated FRs were quantified in blood, and four organophosphate flame retardants (OPFR) metabolites quantified in urine. Hexabromocyclododecane (HBCDD) and decabromodiphenyl ethane (DBDPE) were infrequently detected (<16% of samples). BDE-47 was quantified in blood from Greece, France, and Norway, with France (0.36 ng/g lipid) having the highest concentrations. BDE-153 and -209 were detected in <40% of samples. Dechlorane Plus (DP) was quantified in blood from four countries, with notably high median concentrations of 16 ng/g lipid in Slovenian children. OPFR metabolites had a higher detection frequency than other halogenated FRs. Diphenyl phosphate (DPHP) was quantified in 99% of samples across 8 countries at levels ∼5 times higher than other OPFR metabolites (highest median in Slovenia of 2.43 ng/g lipid). FR concentrations were associated with lifestyle factors such as cleaning frequency, employment status of the father of the household, and renovation status of the house, among others. The concentrations of BDE-47 in children from this study were similar to or lower than FRs found in adult matrices in previous studies, suggesting lower recent exposure and effectiveness of PBDE restrictions.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 114070 |
| Pages (from-to) | 1-10 |
| Number of pages | 10 |
| Journal | International journal of hygiene and environmental health |
| Volume | 247 |
| Early online date | 25 Nov 2022 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Jan 2023 |
Bibliographical note
Part of Special Issue: Key results of the European Human Biomonitoring Initiative - HBM4EU, edited by Marike Kolossa-Gehring, Greet Schoeters, Douglas Haines, Argelia Castano, Robert Barouki, Alexandra Polcher, Philipp Weise.Funding Information:
The HBM4EU project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under grant agreement No 733032 and received co-funding from the author's organizations. Co-funding by German Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer protection is gratefully acknowledged. The Norwegian Institute of Public Health (NIPH) has contributed to funding of the Norwegian Environmental Biobank (NEB) and laboratory measurements have partly been funded by the Research Council of Norway through research projects (275903 and 268465). Support was also provided by the Research Infrastructure RECETOX RI (No. LM2018121) and CETOCOEN EXCELLENCE (CZ.02.1.01/0.0/0.0/17_043/0009632), the Operational Programme Research, Development and Innovation – project Cetocoen Plus (CZ.02.1.01/0.0/0.0/15_003/0000469) and the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No. 857560. The Slovenian SLO-CRP study was co-financed by the Jožef Stefan Institute program P1- 0143, and a national project “ Exposure of children and adolescents to selected chemicals through their habitat environment ” (grant agreement No. C2715-16-634802 ). The PCB cohort was supported by Ministry of Health of the Slovak Republic, grant no. 2012/47-SZU-11 and by the Slovak Research and Development Agency, grant no. APVV-0571-12. The Cross-Mediterranean Environment and Health Network (CROME) study has been co-funded by the European Commission research funds of Horizon 2020.
Funding Information:
The European Human Biomonitoring Initiative (HBM4EU) is a large-scale HBM project co-funded under the European Commission's Research and Innovation Program Horizon 2020 that includes 30 European countries and the European Environment Agency. One of its major aims is to enhance the body of evidence of European citizens' internal exposure to chemicals (David et al., 2020; Lange et al., 2021). Flame retardants were identified by European Union (EU) institutions and HBM4EU partner countries as priority substances to be studied as knowledge gaps with an impact on regulation still exist (Louro et al., 2019). Several detrimental ecological and human health issues have been associated with elevated FR concentrations, including environmental persistence, long-range transport, bioaccumulation, and endocrine and neurologically disruptive effects on organisms, including humans (Aznar-Alemany et al., 2019; Bajard et al., 2019, 2021; Stieger et al., 2014; Sverko et al., 2011)The HBM4EU project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under grant agreement No 733032 and received co-funding from the author's organizations. Co-funding by German Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer protection is gratefully acknowledged. The Norwegian Institute of Public Health (NIPH) has contributed to funding of the Norwegian Environmental Biobank (NEB) and laboratory measurements have partly been funded by the Research Council of Norway through research projects (275903 and 268465). Support was also provided by the Research Infrastructure RECETOX RI (No. LM2018121) and CETOCOEN EXCELLENCE (CZ.02.1.01/0.0/0.0/17_043/0009632), the Operational Programme Research, Development and Innovation – project Cetocoen Plus (CZ.02.1.01/0.0/0.0/15_003/0000469) and the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No. 857560. The Slovenian SLO-CRP study was co-financed by the Jožef Stefan Institute program P1- 0143, and a national project “Exposure of children and adolescents to selected chemicals through their habitat environment” (grant agreement No. C2715-16-634802). The PCB cohort was supported by Ministry of Health of the Slovak Republic, grant no. 2012/47-SZU-11 and by the Slovak Research and Development Agency, grant no. APVV-0571-12. The Cross-Mediterranean Environment and Health Network (CROME) study has been co-funded by the European Commission research funds of Horizon 2020.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 The Authors
Funding
The HBM4EU project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under grant agreement No 733032 and received co-funding from the author's organizations. Co-funding by German Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer protection is gratefully acknowledged. The Norwegian Institute of Public Health (NIPH) has contributed to funding of the Norwegian Environmental Biobank (NEB) and laboratory measurements have partly been funded by the Research Council of Norway through research projects (275903 and 268465). Support was also provided by the Research Infrastructure RECETOX RI (No. LM2018121) and CETOCOEN EXCELLENCE (CZ.02.1.01/0.0/0.0/17_043/0009632), the Operational Programme Research, Development and Innovation – project Cetocoen Plus (CZ.02.1.01/0.0/0.0/15_003/0000469) and the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No. 857560. The Slovenian SLO-CRP study was co-financed by the Jožef Stefan Institute program P1- 0143, and a national project “ Exposure of children and adolescents to selected chemicals through their habitat environment ” (grant agreement No. C2715-16-634802 ). The PCB cohort was supported by Ministry of Health of the Slovak Republic, grant no. 2012/47-SZU-11 and by the Slovak Research and Development Agency, grant no. APVV-0571-12. The Cross-Mediterranean Environment and Health Network (CROME) study has been co-funded by the European Commission research funds of Horizon 2020. The European Human Biomonitoring Initiative (HBM4EU) is a large-scale HBM project co-funded under the European Commission's Research and Innovation Program Horizon 2020 that includes 30 European countries and the European Environment Agency. One of its major aims is to enhance the body of evidence of European citizens' internal exposure to chemicals (David et al., 2020; Lange et al., 2021). Flame retardants were identified by European Union (EU) institutions and HBM4EU partner countries as priority substances to be studied as knowledge gaps with an impact on regulation still exist (Louro et al., 2019). Several detrimental ecological and human health issues have been associated with elevated FR concentrations, including environmental persistence, long-range transport, bioaccumulation, and endocrine and neurologically disruptive effects on organisms, including humans (Aznar-Alemany et al., 2019; Bajard et al., 2019, 2021; Stieger et al., 2014; Sverko et al., 2011)The HBM4EU project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under grant agreement No 733032 and received co-funding from the author's organizations. Co-funding by German Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer protection is gratefully acknowledged. The Norwegian Institute of Public Health (NIPH) has contributed to funding of the Norwegian Environmental Biobank (NEB) and laboratory measurements have partly been funded by the Research Council of Norway through research projects (275903 and 268465). Support was also provided by the Research Infrastructure RECETOX RI (No. LM2018121) and CETOCOEN EXCELLENCE (CZ.02.1.01/0.0/0.0/17_043/0009632), the Operational Programme Research, Development and Innovation – project Cetocoen Plus (CZ.02.1.01/0.0/0.0/15_003/0000469) and the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No. 857560. The Slovenian SLO-CRP study was co-financed by the Jožef Stefan Institute program P1- 0143, and a national project “Exposure of children and adolescents to selected chemicals through their habitat environment” (grant agreement No. C2715-16-634802). The PCB cohort was supported by Ministry of Health of the Slovak Republic, grant no. 2012/47-SZU-11 and by the Slovak Research and Development Agency, grant no. APVV-0571-12. The Cross-Mediterranean Environment and Health Network (CROME) study has been co-funded by the European Commission research funds of Horizon 2020.
| Funders | Funder number |
|---|---|
| CETOCOEN EXCELLENCE | CZ.02.1.01/0.0/0.0/17_043/0009632 |
| European Human Biomonitoring Initiative | HBM4EU |
| Ministry of Health of the Slovak Republic | 2012/47-SZU-11 |
| Norwegian Environmental Biobank | |
| Operational Programme Research, Development and Innovation | CZ.02.1.01/0.0/0.0/15_003/0000469 |
| Horizon 2020 Framework Programme | |
| European Commission | |
| European Environment Agency | |
| Agentúra na Podporu Výskumu a Vývoja | APVV-0571-12 |
| Agentúra na Podporu Výskumu a Vývoja | |
| Norges forskningsråd | LM2018121, 268465, 275903 |
| Norges forskningsråd | |
| Horizon 2020 | 857560, P1- 0143, 733032, C2715-16-634802 |
| Horizon 2020 | |
| Bundesministerium für Umwelt, Naturschutz, nukleare Sicherheit und Verbraucherschutz | |
| Norwegian Institute of Public Health |
Keywords
- Children
- Europe
- HBM4EU
- Human biomonitoring
- Organophosphate flame retardants
- Polybrominated diphenyl ethers
