The High Complexity of Plastic Additives in Hand Wipes

Extensive and long-term applications have resulted in global distributions of plastic additives (PAs). To facilitate the understanding of human exposure to PAs, the present study investigated the abundances and profiles of a broad range of PAs on human hands via hand wipe sampling. Sixty out of 160 PAs were detected in >50% of hand wipes collected from 30 children and 45 adults, among which a number of organophosphate esters (OPEs) and synthetic antioxidants that have rarely or never been investigated in prior studies. The total masses of PAs ranged from 650 to 87 030 ng (median: 6110 ng) and 1230 to 19360 ng (median: 5600 ng) in adults' and children's hand wipes, respectively. By categories, phthalates (PAEs) represented the most abundant group of PAs, followed by non-PAE plasticizers, UV stabilizers, OPEs, antioxidants, and bisphenol analogues. Children exhibited greater PA levels per square centimeter of hand surface, indicating elevated exposure compared with adults. Strong correlations existed for many PAs between adults and children or within each subpopulation, indicating close connections between the two subpopulations in the exposure profiles. The great complexity of plastic additives on hands raises the need for future investigations on human exposure pathways and potential health risks from the cocktail effects.

Automated summary

This study investigated the abundances and profiles of various plastic additives on human hands, finding that children exhibited higher levels of exposure compared to adults, and there were close connections between the exposure profiles of the two subpopulations.