Internal exposure of nursery-school children and their parents and teachers to di(2-ethylhexyl)phtha late (DEHP)

Di(2-ethylhcxyl)phthalate (DEHP) is the main plasticizer for polyvinyl chloride (PVC) products. It has become widely spread in our environment and among people. DEHP is suspected to be responsible for endocrine-disruptor-like effects in mankind. Children are probably most susceptible to these endocrine effects. In this study we determined the internal exposure of nursery school children (aged 2 - 6 years) to DEHP and compared it to their parents' and teachers' exposure. The DEHP-metabolites mono (2-ethyl-5-hydroxyhexyl)phthalate (5OH-MEHP), mono(2ethyl-5-oxo-hexyl)phthalate (5oxo-MEHP) and mono(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate (MEHP) were determined in first morning urine. The sum of the three DEHP metabolites in children's and in adults' urine was 90.0 and 59.1 mug/l respectively (median values; p = 0.074). Concentrations of the secondary metabolites 5OH-MEHP (median: 49.6 vs. 32.1 mug/l; p = 0.038) and 5oxo-MEHP (median: 33.8 vs. 19.6 mug/l; p = 0.015) were significantly higher in children than in adults. MEHP concentrations were low both in adults and children (median: 6.6 mug/l vs. 9.0 mug/l). Creatinine adjusted values should more accurately reflect the dose taken up with respect to body weight when comparing children with adults. Total creatinine adjusted DEHP metabolites in urine were significantly higher in children than in adults (median values: 98.8 vs. 50.9 mug/g creatinine; p < 0.0001). This also applied to the concentrations of both secondary metabolites 5OH-MEHP (55.8 vs. 28.1 mug/g creatinine; p < 0.0001) and 5oxo-MEHP (38.3 vs. 17.2 mug/g creatinine; p < 0.0001). Creatinine corrected concentrations for the monoester MEHP in children and adults were very similar (8.7 vs. 8.6 mug/g creatinine; p = 0.908). Based on the sum of the three determined metabolites we estimated the DEHP dose (in mug/kg body-weight) taken up by children to be about twice as high as the dose taken up by adults. Routes of the ubiquitous exposure to DEHP remain indistinct. In children's urine the mean relative ratios of MEHP to 50H-MEHP to 5oxo-MEHP were 1 to 7.1 to 4.9, in adults they were 1 to 3.4 to 2.1. This might indicate an enhanced oxidative metabolism in children. To date no information on the biological activity and toxicity of oxidative metabolites of DEHP is available. Since these are the major metabolites of DEHP toxicological data on these metabolites is urgently needed.