Legacy and alternative halogenated flame retardants in human milk in Europe: Implications for children's health

Eliška Čechová, Šimon Vojta, Petr Kukučka, Anton Kočan, Tomáš Trnovec, Ľubica Palkovičová Murínová, Marijke de Cock, Margot van de Bor, Joakim Askevold, Merete Eggesbø, Martin Scheringer*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to JournalArticleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

In this study, 10 polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) and 19 alternative halogenated flame retardants (AFRs) were determined in > 450 human milk samples across three European countries, representing northern, western and eastern Europe. This study provides first insights into the occurrence of selected AFRs in mother milk samples and compares them among three European countries. Sums of median concentrations of the most frequently detected PBDEs were 2.16, 0.88 and 0.45 ng g−1 lipid weight (lw) in Norway, the Netherlands and Slovakia, respectively. The sum of the concentrations of AFRs ranged from 0.14 to 0.25 ng g−1 lw in all countries, which was 2 to 15 times less compared to Σ7PBDEs. The Penta-BDE replacement, bis(2-ethylhexyl) tetrabromophthalate, BEH-TEBP, was present at the greatest concentrations of any of the AFRs and in some samples exceeded concentrations of BDE 47 and BDE 153. Four AFRs including bromobenzenes (hexabromobenzene, pentabromobenzene, pentabromotoluene) and another Penta-BDE replacement (2-ethylhexyl-2,3,4,5-tetrabromobenzoate, EH-TBB) were detected in > 42% of all human milk samples. Because of the potential developmental neurotoxicity of the halogenated flame retardants, infant dietary intakes via breastfeeding were estimated; in four cases the intakes of BDE 47 exceeded the reference dose indicating that the present concentrations may pose a risk for children.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)137-145
Number of pages9
JournalEnvironment International
Volume108
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Nov 2017

Funding

We would like to acknowledge Jakub Martiník, Marcela Kadlecová and Martina Partyková for their laboratory assistance during sample preparation. The research was supported by the Seventh Framework Programme of EU , Grant Agreement No. 282957 : Developmental Neurotoxicity Assessment of Mixtures in Children (DENAMIC), by the Czech Ministry of Education, Youth, and Sports ( LO1214 , LM2015051 and LM2011028 ), and Masaryk University (CETOCOEN PLUS project CZ.02.1.01/0.0/0.0/15_003/0000469 ). The PRENATAL cohort was supported by Ministry of Health no. 2007/07-SZU-03 and Slovak Research and Development Agency no. APVV-0444-11 and no. DO7RP-0030-12.

FundersFunder number
Czech Ministry of Education, Youth, and SportsLM2011028, LO1214, LM2015051
Ministry of Health2007/07-SZU-03
Seventh Framework Programme282957
Agentúra na Podporu Výskumu a VývojaAPVV-0444-11, DO7RP-0030-12
Masarykova UniverzitaCZ.02.1.01/0.0/0.0/15_003/0000469

    Keywords

    • Alternative flame retardants
    • Developmental neurotoxicants
    • Human milk
    • Infant exposure
    • Polybrominated diphenyl ethers

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