Exposure of Hong Kong residents to PBDEs and their structural analogues through market fish consumption

Hong Sheng Wang, Jun Du, Ka Lok Ho, Ho man Leung, Michael Hon Wah Lam, John P. Giesy, Chris Kong Chu Wong*, Ming Hung Wong

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articlepeer-review

60 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

High concentrations of polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) and their structural analogues (such as methoxylated (MeO) and hydroxylated (OH) PBDEs) had been observed in environmental samples and human tissues. This study evaluated the occurrence, potential source and human exposure of these organobrominated compounds via market fish consumption in Hong Kong. The contamination of 22 PBDEs, 7 MeO-BDEs, 15 OH-BDEs and 3 bromophenols (BRPs) were analyzed in 20 fish species (279 samples). The estimated daily intakes of PBDEs, MeO-BDEs, OH-BDEs and BRPs via fish consumption ranged from 4.4 to 14, 0.50 to 4.3, 0.02 to 0.43 and 0 to 0.21ng/kgday for Hong Kong residents, respectively, based on 50th and 95th centile concentrations. BDE-47 and 99 were found to be the major PBDE congeners while 2'-MeO-BDE-68, 6-MeO-BDE-47 and 3-MeO-BDE-47 were the dominant MeO-BDEs. Concentrations of OH-BDEs and BRPs were 10-100-fold less than those of PBDEs, with small frequencies of detection (max 36.7%). Dietary intake of PBDEs via fish consumption by Hong Kong residents was greater than many developed countries, such as the USA, UK, Japan and Spain. To our knowledge, this is the first report to estimate the dietary intake of MeO/OH-BDEs and BRPs via fish consumption. Our results indicated that the toxicity potential of these compounds should not be neglected.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)374-380
Number of pages7
JournalJournal of Hazardous Materials
Volume192
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 15 Aug 2011

Scopus Subject Areas

  • Environmental Engineering
  • Environmental Chemistry
  • Waste Management and Disposal
  • Pollution
  • Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis

User-Defined Keywords

  • Bromophenols
  • Dietary intake
  • Fish
  • Hong Kong
  • Hydroxylated
  • Methoxylated
  • PBDE

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