A review of brominated flame retardants in the environment with emphasis on atmospheric levels, knowledge and information gaps in the African continent

Brominated flame retardants (BFRs) are chemicals that are now omnipresent in the environment and have been detected in different matrices from different parts of the world. They are semivolatile organic compounds (SVOCs), hence they partition between air, water, soil and sediment. Atmospheric long range transport (LRT) is commonly considered the swiftest route for SVOCs to reach remote environments. As a results, the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) advocates air monitoring as a key measure to assess the effectiveness of global control initiatives. There is little information of atmospheric BFR levels in the African continent, which makes it impossible to understand the regional as well as global perspective of these pollutants in the atmosphere. The aim of this review is therefore to establish scientific reasons to explain why it is necessary to have atmospheric research in Africa, and provide research gaps that need to be considered in further studies in order to better understand these pollutants in the atmosphere. To date there are about 57 published studies on BFRs in different matrices in various countries of the African continent, out of which, only three have concentrated on the atmosphere. The amounts are not as high as detected in other regions but are likely to increase due to the fact that the continent is developing at a fast rate thus an anticipated increase in BFRs use. The review therefore provides different recommendations which all clearly develop a foundation of the necessity of air monitoring of BFRs in the African continent. (C) 2017 Turkish National Committee for Air Pollution Research and Control. Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.