PBDEs

Public concern about PBDE levels in the environment was heightened when it was shown that a sharp increase in the concentration of certain PBDEs had occurred in human breast milk over only a 10-year period (Meironyte et al. 1999 Noren and Meironyte 2000), and the levels of exposure in some infants and toddlers were similar to those shown to cause developmental neurotoxicity in animal experiments (Costa and Giordano 2007). As a result of these concerns, the majority of commercial PBDE mixtures have been banned from manufacture, sale, and use within the European Union. 

Costa, L.G. and Giordano, G. (2007). Developmental neurotoxicity of polybrominated diphenyl ether (PBDE) flame retardants. Neurotoxicology 28, 1047-1067. 

Hooper, K. and McDonald, T.A. (2000). The PBDEs An emerging environmental challenge and another reason for breast milk monitoring programs. Environmental Health Perspectives 108, 387-392. 

Kuriyama, S.N., Wanner, A., and Fidalgo-Neto, A.A. (2007). Developmental exposnre to low-dose PBDE-99 Tissue distribution and thyroid hormone levels. Toxicology 242, 80-90. 

McDonald, T.A. (2002). A perspective on the potential health risks of PBDEs. Chemosphere 46, 745-755. 

Sellstrom, U., Jansson, B., and Kierkegaard, C. et al. (1993). Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDE) in biological samples from the Swedish environment. Chemosphere 26, 1703-1718. 

He J, KR Robrock, L Alvarez-Cohen (2006) Microbial rednctive debromination of polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs). Environ Sci Technol 40 4429-4434. 

Chemicals that possess a common structural feature are called congeners. Some common examples are polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), poly-brominated diphenylethers (PBDE) and chlorofluorocarbons (CFC). The common features... 

Substance TBBA replaces PBB/PBDE Polymerized TBBA Phosphorus-based retardants Mineral-based retardants Change base material Separate high and low voltage Reduce voltage... 

The challenge was to avoid the use of hazardous brominated fire retardants such as polybrominated biphenyl (PBB) and pentabromodiphenyl ether (PBDE). The first strategy was to replace PBB and PBDE with tetrabromo-bisphenol-A (TBBA). This has a much lower toxicity, but is still a brominated fire retardant with safety concerns. An improvement... 

LAS and major metabolites (SPC) PBDEs, PCDDs, PCDFs sewage sludge Coastal sediments Soxhlet (toluene) and clean-up with silica gel (QqQ) GC-EI-MS [Pg.34]

For this purpose, the WEEE Directive has been complemented with an additional directive that limits the use of certain pollutants in these products. The EC Directive 2002/95/EC on the Restriction of the use of certain Hazardous Substances in electrical and electronic equipment (RoHS Directive) ([7], recast 2011 [9]) restricts the use of the six harmful substances/substance families lead, mercury, hexavalent chromium, polybrominated biphenyls (PBB), and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDE) to 0.1% and cadmium to 0.01% w/w per homogenous material in equipment and components, but with several exemptions for a wide range of applications (Annex III and IV). 

It is expected that soil PBDEs and PCDD/Fs may also have stemmed from other sources than e-waste recycling processes, as only 3% of the global production of flame retardants is used in electronic products [36]. Apparently, only a small portion of BFRs occurring in the environments is derived from e-waste. 

PBDEs are a group of chemicals widely used as fire retardants in various commercial products. They have also been found in almost all environmental media around e-waste recycling sites, presumably due to unintended releases during primitive recycling operations. Herein a summary of the levels of PBDEs around e-waste recycling and reference sites is presented. 

Table 1 Concentrations of chlorinated polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (CIPAHs), polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polybrominated biphenyls (PBBs), polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans (PCDD/Fs), and polybrominated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans (PBDD/Fs) in ambient air, soil, and human samples collected from e-waste recycling and reference sites in China... 

Location Sample CIPAHs PBDEs PCBs PBBs PCDD/Fs PBDD/Fs Reference... 

Note Concentrations of PBDEs and PCBs in air samples were expressed in ng/m3, while those of PCDD/Fs and PBDD/Fs in air were expressed in pg/m3. 

CIPAHs, PBDEs, and PCDD/Fs in soil samples were in ng/g dry weight. For PCDD/Fs in human samples, pg WHO-TEQ1998/g lipid (World Health... 

E-waste-derived PBDEs may enter human body via various exposure routes. Bi et al. [6] found that the median PBDE (List 15 of Appendix) concentration... 

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