Children's exposure to brominated flame retardants in the home: The TESIE study

Kate Hoffman; Xuening Tang; Ellen M Cooper; Stephanie C Hammel; Andreas Sjodin; Allison L Phillips; Thomas F Webster; Heather M Stapleton

doi:10.1016/j.envpol.2024.124110

Children's exposure to brominated flame retardants in the home: The TESIE study

Environ Pollut. 2024 May 7:352:124110. doi: 10.1016/j.envpol.2024.124110. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Kate Hoffman¹, Xuening Tang², Ellen M Cooper³, Stephanie C Hammel⁴, Andreas Sjodin⁵, Allison L Phillips⁶, Thomas F Webster⁷, Heather M Stapleton⁸

Affiliations

¹ Nicholas School of Environment, Duke University, Durham, NC, United States; Children's Health Discovery Initiative, Duke School of Medicine, North Carolina, United States. Electronic address: kate.hoffman@duke.edu.
² Nicholas School of Environment, Duke University, Durham, NC, United States. Electronic address: xuening.tang@duke.edu.
³ Nicholas School of Environment, Duke University, Durham, NC, United States. Electronic address: ellen.cooper@duke.edu.
⁴ Nicholas School of Environment, Duke University, Durham, NC, United States; National Research Centre for the Working Environment, Copenhagen, Denmark. Electronic address: sth@nfa.dk.
⁵ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA, United States. Electronic address: asjodin@cdc.gov.
⁶ Nicholas School of Environment, Duke University, Durham, NC, United States. Electronic address: Phillips.Allison@epa.gov.
⁷ Boston University School of Public Health, Boston University, Boston, MA, United States. Electronic address: twebster@bu.edu.
⁸ Nicholas School of Environment, Duke University, Durham, NC, United States; Children's Health Discovery Initiative, Duke School of Medicine, North Carolina, United States. Electronic address: heather.stapleton@duke.edu.

PMID: 38723705
DOI: 10.1016/j.envpol.2024.124110

Abstract

Due to differences in chemical properties and half-lives, best practices for exposure assessment may differ for legacy versus novel brominated flame retardants (BFRs). Our objective was to identify the environment matrix that best predicted biomarkers of children's BFR exposures. Paired samples were collected from children aged 3-6 years and their homes, including dust, a small piece of polyurethane foam from the furniture, and a handwipe and wristband from each child. Biological samples collected included serum, which was analyzed for 11 polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), and urine, which was analyzed for tetrabromobenzoic acid (TBBA), a metabolite of 2-ethylhexyl-2,3,4,5-tetrabromobenzoate (EH-TBB). Significant positive correlations were typically observed between BFRs measured in dust, handwipes and wristbands, though wristbands and handwipes tended to be more strongly correlated with one another than with dust. PBDEs, EH-TBB and BEH-TEBP were detected in 30% of the sofa foam samples, suggesting that the foam was treated with PentaBDE or Firemaster® 550/600 (FM 550/600). PBDEs were detected in all serum samples and TBBA was detected in 43% of urine samples. Statistically significant positive correlations were observed between the environmental samples and serum for PBDEs. Urinary TBBA was 6.86 and 6.58 times more likely to be detected among children in the highest tertile of EH-TBB exposure for handwipes and wristbands, respectively (95 % CI: 2.61, 18.06 and 1.43, 30.05 with p < 0.001 and 0.02, respectively). The presence of either PentaBDE or FM 550/600 in furniture was also associated with significantly higher levels of these chemicals in dust, handwipes and serum (for PBDEs) and more frequent detection of TBBA in urine (p = 0.13). Our results suggest that children are exposed to a range of BFRs in the home, some of which likely originate from residential furniture, and that silicone wristbands are a practical tool for evaluating external exposure to both legacy and novel BFRs.

Keywords: Brominated flame retardants (BFRs); Children's exposure; Dust; Furniture foam; Hand wipes; Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs); Silicone wristband.