Journal
ENVIRONMENT INTERNATIONAL
Volume 35, Issue 1, Pages 76-82Publisher
PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.envint.2008.07.025
Keywords
Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs); E-waste; Dietary exposure; Inhalation exposure; Risk assessment
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Funding
- The Research Grants Council of the University Grants Committee of Hong Kong [HKBU 1/03C]
- Hong Kong Baptist University
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PCB levels in fish (collected from local rivers), atmosphere and human milk samples have been studied to determine the exposure levels of PCBs for local residents and e-waste workers in Guiyu, a major electronic waste scrapping center in China. The source appointment and correlation analyses showed that homologue composition of PCBs in 7 species of fish were consistent and similar to commercial PCBs Aroclor 1248. PCB levels in air surrounding the open burning site were significantly higher than those in residential area. Inhalation exposure contributed 27% and 93% to the total body loadings (the sum of dietary and inhalation exposure) of the local residents, and e-waste workers engaged in open burning respectively. Total PCB concentrations in human milk ranged from N.D. to 57.6 ng/g lipid, with an average of 9.50 ng/g lipid. The present results indicated that commercial PCBs derived from e-waste recycling are major sources of PCBs accumulating in different environmental media, leading to the accumulation of high chlorinated biphenyls in human beings. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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