Study On Pollution Characteristics Of PAEs In Residences And Health Risks Assessment For Infants And Young Children In Shihezi

Phthalates（PAEs）are ubiquitous in indoor dust.As a class of potential endocrine disruptors,such substances cause many harms to human health.At present,the domestic researches on indoor PAEs are mainly concentrated in developed areas,but in Xinjiang,the research on the pollution levels and health risk assessment of PAEs in residential environments is rarely reported.In this study,seven PAEs,including dimethyl phthalate（DMP）and diethyl phthalate（DEP）,diisobutyl phthalate（DIBP）,dibutyl phthalate（DBP）,butyl phthalate（BBP）,phthalic acid bis-（2-ethylhexyl）phthalate（DEHP）,di-n-octyl phthalate（DNOP）,which are commonly used,were detected by GC-MS in dust sampled from fifty residences during the heating and non-heating periods in Shihezi.The characteristics,sources and influencing factors of PAEs pollution in dust were analysed.Monte Carlo simulation was used to calculate the daily exposure of PAEs via the oral intake of dust for infants and young children aged 0–3 years old.Based on California’s Proposition 65 of OEHHA,the reproductive and cancer risk were assessed for infants and young children.The bioavailability of PAEs in dust was analyzed by a physiologically based extraction test（PBET）,and the health risks for infants and young children were further assessd.The main results of this study are as follows:（1）The results of PAEs in the dust of residences during the heating and non-heating periods in Shihezi showed that the detection frequencies of DIBP,DBP and DEHP were 88.2%–100%.DIBP,DBP and DEHP were the main phthalate compounds during two periods,accounting for>99.5%of the total PAEs concentrations.Among seven PAEs,DEHP was the primary phthalate compound（median concentrations were 36–462μg/g）.Compared with the results of the domestic and international researches,DBP accounted for 16%–26%of total PAEs in indoor dust in this study,which is significantly larger than the results of other regions（1%–15%）,and the concentrations of DBP were at higher levels during the heating period（median concentrations were 139–166μg/g）.Comparing the levels of PAEs in different periods,it was found that except for DIBP,the concentrations of PAEs in dust during the heating period were higher than that during the non-heating period（P<0.05）.（2）The pollution sources and influencing factors of PAEs in the indoor dust during the heating period in Shihezi were analyzed.The results showed that there were important sources of PAEs contamination in indoor environments,especially of DMP and DEP.There was a significant negative correlation between DEHP concentration and T in the living rooms（r=-0.421,P=0.023）.In addition,house cleaning helps to reduce the concentrations of DBP and DEHP in residences;less use of skin care products helps to reduce the concentrations of DMP and DEP in the bedroom.（3）During the heating and non-heating periods,the average bioavailability of DBP were 13.4%and19.1%,respectively.The average bioavailability of DEHP were 5.86%and 7.51%.Health risk assessment for infants and young children aged 0–3 years old indicated that during both two periods,DBP exposure can cause reproductive risk to all infants and young children(HQ_DBP=2.62–5.79);DEHP exposure can pose cancer risk to infants and young children aged 0–2 years old(HQ_DEHP=3.5–5.22).After considering bioavailability of PAEs in dust,only 8%to 37%of infants and young children face reproductive risk,and almost all infants and young children do not face cancer risk.The results of this study will be helpful to fully understand the pollution status of PAEs in Shihezi and the potential health risks for infants and young children.It is of great significance to promote the management and control of PAEs by relevant government departments and to formulate corresponding policy standards.