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POLYBROMINATED DIPHENYL ETHER (PBDE) LEVELS IN AN EXPANDED MARKET BASKET SURVEY OF UNITED STATES (U.S) FOOD AND ESTIMATED PBDE DIETARY INTAKE BY AGE AND SEX
Citation:
SCHECTER, A. J., O. PAPKE, T. R. HARRIS, K. C. TUNG, A. MUSUMBA, J. OLSON, AND L. S. BIRNBAUM. POLYBROMINATED DIPHENYL ETHER (PBDE) LEVELS IN AN EXPANDED MARKET BASKET SURVEY OF UNITED STATES (U.S) FOOD AND ESTIMATED PBDE DIETARY INTAKE BY AGE AND SEX. ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH PERSPECTIVES. National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), Research Triangle Park, NC, 114(10):1515-1520, (2006).
Impact/Purpose:
To better estimate levels of PBDE intake from food by gender and age for the U.S. general population
Description:
This study enhances a previously reported U.S. market basket survey of food for polybrominated diphenyl ether (PBDE) levels with a larger sample size of 62 individual analyses for 13 congeners. In addition, it estimates levels of PBDE intake from food by gender and age for the U.S. general population. In food samples, total PBDEs varied from 7.9 pg/g, or parts per trillion (ppt), in milk to 3,726 pg/g in canned sardines. Fish were found to be highest in PBDEs followed by meat and dairy products. However, using estimates for food consumption, meat accounted for the highest U.S. dietary PBDE intake, followed by dairy and fish with almost equal contributions, except for nursing infants. Women had lower dietary intake of PBDEs than did men on a body weight basis. PBDE intake from food was estimated at 307 ng/kg-day in nursing infants, and varied from 2 ng/kg-day at age 2-5 for both males and females to 0.9 ng/kg-day in adult women. Dietary exposure alone does not appear to account for the very high body burdens measured. It is suggested that the indoor environment (dust, air) may play an important role in PBDE body burdens in addition to food.