Semi-volatile organic compounds in French dwellings: An estimation of concentrations in the gas phase and particulate phase from settled dust.

Semi-volatile organic compounds (SVOCs) are present in the gas phase, particulate phase and settled dust in the indoor environment, resulting in human exposure through different pathways. Sometimes, SVOCs are only measured in a single phase because of practical and/or financial constraints. A probabilistic method proposed by Wei et al. for the prediction of the SVOC concentration in the gas phase from the SVOC concentration in the particulate phase was extended to model the equilibrium SVOC concentrations in both the gas and particulate phases from the SVOC concentration measured in settled dust. This approach, based on the theory of SVOC partitioning among the gas phase, particulate phase, and settled dust incorporating Monte Carlo simulation, was validated using measured data from the literature and applied to the prediction of the concentrations of 48 SVOCs in both the gas and particulate phases in 3.6 million French dwellings where at least one child aged 6 months to 6 years lived. The median gas-phase concentration of 15 SVOCs, i.e., 5 phthalates, 2 organochlorine pesticides, 4 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), 2 synthetic musks, dichlorvos, and tributyl phosphate, was found to be higher than 1 ng/m3. The median concentration of 5 phthalates in the particulate phase was higher than 1 ng/m3. The impacts of some physical parameters, such as the molar mass and boiling point, on the SVOC partitioning among the different phases were quantified. The partitioning depends on the activity coefficient, vapor pressure at the boiling point, entropy of evaporation of the SVOCs, and the fraction of organic matter in particles. Thus, the partitioning may differ from one chemical family to another. The empirical equations based on regressions allow quick estimation of SVOC partitioning among the gas phase, particulate phase, and settled dust from the molar mass and boiling point.

Chemical-by-chemical and cumulative risk assessment of residential indoor exposure to semivolatile organic compounds in France.

BACKGROUND: The toxic effects of environmental exposure to chemicals are increasingly being studied and confirmed, notably for semivolatile organic compounds (SVOCs). These are found in many products and housing materials, from which they are emitted to indoor air, settled dust and other surfaces. OBJECTIVES: The objective of this work is to assess the human health risk posed by residential indoor exposure to 32 SVOCs, assessed in previous nationwide studies. METHODS: A chemical-by-chemical risk assessment, using a hazard quotient (HQ) or excess risk (ER) method, was supplemented by a cumulative risk assessment (CRA). For CRA, a hazard index (HI) method, as well as higher tier approaches using relative potency factors (RPFs) or toxic equivalency factors (TEFs) were used for the following endpoints: neurotoxicity, reproductive toxicity, genotoxicity and immunotoxicity. RESULTS: HQs were above 1 for 50% of French children from birth to 2 years for BDE 47, and for 5% of children for lindane and dibutyl phthalate (DBP). Corresponding hazards are reprotoxic for BDE 47 and DBP, and immunotoxic for lindane. The CRA approach provided additional information of reprotoxic risks (HI > 1) that may occur for 95% of children and for 5% of the offspring for pregnant women's exposure. The SVOCs contributing most to these risks were PCB 101 and 118, BDE 47, and DBP. The higher tier CRA approaches showed that exposure to dwellings' SVOC mixtures were of concern for 95% of children for neurotoxic compounds having effects linked with neuronal death. To a lesser extent, effects mediated by the aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) or by a decrease in testosterone levels may concern 5% of children and adults. Lastly, unacceptable immunotoxic risk related to exposure to 8 indoor PCBs was also observed for 5% of children. CONCLUSIONS: In view of uncertainties related to compounds' toxicity for humans, these results justify the implementation of preventive measures, as well as the production of more standardized and comprehensive toxicological data for some compounds.

Indoor residential exposure to semivolatile organic compounds in France.

Multiple chemicals are emitted in residential accommodation. Aggregate Daily Doses (ADD) (ng/kg-bw/d) were estimated for 32 semivolatile organic compounds (SVOCs) of different chemical families that are frequently detected in French dwellings in both air and settled dust. Daily doses were determined using steady-state models for the population, categorized into 11 age groups covering birth to age 30. Three routes of exposure were taken into account: dust ingestion, inhalation (gaseous and particulate phases) and dermal contact with the gaseous phase of air. Contamination levels were preferentially retrieved from large, nationwide representative datasets. A two-dimensional probabilistic approach was used to assess parametric uncertainty and identify the most influential factors. For children aged 2 to 3years, ADD estimates spanned orders of magnitude, with median values ranging from 8.7pg/kg-bw/d for 2,2',3,4,4'-pentabromodiphenylether (BDE 85) to 1.3µg/kg-bw/d for di-isobutyl phthalate (DiBP). Inhalation, ingestion and dermal pathway contributed at varying levels, and depending on compound, air was the dominant medium for 28 of the 32 compounds (either by inhalation or dermal contact). Indoor exposure estimate variance was mainly driven by indoor contamination variability, and secondarily by uncertainty in physical and chemical parameters. These findings lend support to the call for cumulative risk assessment of indoor SVOCs.

Aggregating exposures & cumulating risk for semivolatile organic compounds: A review.

Increasingly, health risk assessment is addressing multiple pathway exposures to multiple contaminants. We reviewed aggregated exposure and cumulative risk approaches for contemporary and ubiquitous semivolatile organic compounds (SVOC). We identified 22 studies aggregating exposure pathways, and 31 cumulating risk. Exposure aggregation is based on the addition of pathway-specific doses, using kinetic modeling where it exists, and classic external dose equations otherwise. In most cases, exposure is dominated by a single route or source of exposure - mainly the oral pathway - via dietary or non-dietary exposure. Preferential routes and sources of exposure are influenced by SVOC physical-chemical properties such as vapor pressure. The cumulative risk approach for contaminants is based on dose addition. Simple sum of hazard quotient (Hazard Index: HI) is the most commonly used cumulative risk assessment approach, while Relative Potency Factor (RPF) appeared to the best suited - although this calls for a level of toxicological information that limits the number of compounds that can be studied simultaneously. Where both were performed, moving from HI to more refined approach produced similar results. In conclusion, both approaches - exposure aggregation and cumulative risk - rely on simple assumptions. Nevertheless, they allow uncertainty to be reduced, in comparison with source-by-source or chemical-by-chemical approaches.

Dermal absorption of semivolatile organic compounds from the gas phase: Sensitivity of exposure assessment by steady state modeling to key parameters.

Recent research has demonstrated the importance of dermal exposure for some semivolatile organic compounds (SVOCs) present in the gas phase of indoor air. Though models for estimating dermal intake from gaseous SVOCs exist, their predictions can be subject to variations in input parameters, which can lead to large variation in exposure estimations. In this sensitivity analysis for a steady state model, we aimed to assess these variations and their determinants using probabilistic Monte Carlo sampling for 8 SVOCs from different chemical families: phthalates, bisphenols, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), organophosphorus (OPs), organochlorines (OCs), synthetic musks, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and polybromodiphenylethers (PBDEs). Indoor SVOC concentrations were found to be the most influential parameters. Both Henry's law constant (H) and octanol/water partition coefficient (Kow) uncertainty also had significant influence. While exposure media properties such as volume fraction of organic matter in the particle phase (fom-part), particle density (ρpart), concentration ([TSP]) and transport coefficient (É£d) had a slight influence for some compounds, human parameters such as body weight (W), body surface area (A) and daily exposure (t) make a marginal or null contribution to the variance of dermal intake for a given age group. Inclusion of a parameter sensitivity analysis appears essential to reporting uncertainties in dermal exposure assessment.

Predicting the gas-phase concentration of semi-volatile organic compounds from airborne particles: Application to a French nationwide survey.

Semi-volatile organic compounds (SVOCs) partition indoors between the gas phase, airborne particles, settled dust, and other surfaces. Unknown concentrations of SVOCs in the gas phase (Cg) can be predicted from their measured concentrations in airborne particles. In previous studies, the prediction of Cg depended largely on choosing a specific equation for the calculation of the particle/gas partition coefficient. Moreover, the prediction of Cg is frequently performed at a reference temperature rather than the real indoor temperature. In this paper, a probabilistic approach based on Monte Carlo simulation was developed to predict the distribution of SVOCs' Cg from their concentrations in airborne particles at the target indoor temperature. Moreover, the distribution of the particle/gas partition coefficient of each SVOC at the target temperature was used. The approach was validated using two measured datasets in the literature: the predicted Cg from concentrations measured in airborne particles and the measured Cg were generally of the same order of magnitude. The distributions of the Cg of 66 SVOCs in the French housing stock were then predicted. The SVOCs with the highest median Cg, ranging from 1ng/m3 to >100ng/m3, included 8 phthalates (DEP, DiBP, DBP, DEHP, BBP, DMP, DiNP, and DMEP), 4 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (fluorene, phenanthrene, fluoranthene, and anthracene), 2 alkylphenols (4-tert-butylphenol and 4-tert-octylphenol), 2 synthetic musks (galaxolide and tonalide), tributyl phosphate, and heptachlor. The nationwide, representative, predicted Cg values of SVOCs are frequently of the same order of magnitude in Europe and North America, whereas these Cg values in Chinese and Indian dwellings and the Cg of polybrominated diphenyl ethers in U.S. dwellings are generally higher.

Temperature dependence of the particle/gas partition coefficient: An application to predict indoor gas-phase concentrations of semi-volatile organic compounds.

The indoor gas-phase concentrations of semi-volatile organic compounds (SVOCs) can be predicted from their respective concentrations in airborne particles by applying the particle/gas partitioning equilibrium. The temperature used for partitioning is often set to 25°C. However, indoor temperatures frequently differ from this reference value. This assumption may result in errors in the predicted equilibrium gas-phase SVOC concentrations. To improve the prediction model, the temperature dependence of the particle/gas partition coefficient must be addressed. In this paper, a theoretical relationship between the particle/gas partition coefficient and temperature was developed based on the SVOC absorptive mechanism. The SVOC particle/gas partition coefficients predicted by employing the derived theoretical relationship agree well with the experimental data retrieved from the literature (R>0.93). The influence of temperature on the equilibrium gas-phase SVOC concentration was quantified by a dimensionless analysis of the derived relationship between the SVOC particle/gas partition coefficient and temperature. The predicted equilibrium gas-phase SVOC concentration decreased by between 31% and 53% when the temperature was lowered by 6°C, while it increased by up to 750% when the indoor temperature increased from 15°C to 30°C.

Distributions of the particle/gas and dust/gas partition coefficients for seventy-two semi-volatile organic compounds in indoor environment.

Particle/gas and dust/gas partition coefficients (Kp and Kd) are two key parameters that address the partitioning of semi-volatile organic compounds (SVOCs) between gas-phase, airborne particles, and settled dust in indoor environment. A number of empirical equations to calculate the values of Kp and Kd have been reported in the literature. Therefore, the difficulty lies in the selection of a specific empirical equation in a given situation. In this study, we retrieved from the literature 38 empirical equations for calculating Kp and Kd values from the SVOC saturation vapor pressure and octanol/air partition coefficient. These values were calculated for 72 SVOCs: 9 phthalates, 9 polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), 11 polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), 22 biocides, 14 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), 3 alkylphenols, 2 synthetic musks, tributylphosphate, and bisphenol A. The mean and median values of log10Kp or log10Kd for most SVOCs were of the same order of magnitude. The distribution of log10Kp values was fitted to either a normal distribution (for 27 SVOCs) or a log-normal distribution (for 45 SVOCs). This work provides a reference distribution of the log10Kp for 72 SVOCs, and its use may reduce the bias associated with the selection of a specific value or equation.