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Investigation of brominated flame retardants present in articles being used, recycled and disposed of in New Zealand

• Executive Summary
• 1. Introduction
• 2. Estimate of the amount of BDE in New Zealand
• 3. Assessment of the fate of BDEs in waste
• 4. Profile of BDE flows in New Zealand
• 5. Risk analysis
• 6. Environmentally sound disposal methods
• 7. Limitations of the study
• 8. Conclusions and Recommendations
• Additional readings
• Appendix A Detailed data tables
• Appendix B Polybrominated Diphenyl Ether (PBDE) structure and physical properties
• Appendix C Analytical equipment and procedures
• Appendix D Certificate of analysis
• Appendix E Methods and analysis of consumer products
• Appendix F Calculating the % BDE present in consumer products
• Appendix G Details of the selected landfills and the sampling of leachate
• Appendix H Current status of the flame retardant industry
• Appendix I Non-dust sources of BDEs more prominent human intake
• Appendix J Completed Questionnaire SC-4/19 for submission of information on new POPs in accordance with SC-4/19
• Appendix L Questionnaire for organisations that manufacture articles containing BFR’s
• Appendix M Excel spreadsheet entitled ‘XRF analyser raw data’
• Appendix N Excel spreadsheets entitled ‘NZ Statistics data giving categories with raw data’

Appendix I Non-dust sources of BDEs more prominent human intake

Research^{Footnote 25} carried out by the universities of Antwerp (Belgium), Birmingham (UK) and Assiut (Egypt) shows that the main exposure to BDEs is mainly dietary in the EU, while more influenced by dust in the US. Given the comparative lower use of BDEs in New Zealand compared to the US, the New Zealand human exposure model could be more similar to that in the EU. The abstract of the study reads: [quote]

Human exposure to polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) through food and indoor dust ingestion was assessed for 19 Belgian adults. The intake of PBDEs (Σtri-hepta BDEs and BDE 209) in the studied population is influenced mainly by diet. Dietary intakes of Σtri-hepta BDEs (BDEs 28, 47, 99, 100, 153, 154, and 183) were 5.9−22.0 ng/day (median 10.3), while those via dust ingestion were 0.1−1.4 ng/day (median 0.25) or 0.3−3.5 ng/day (average 0.6), assuming dust ingestion rates of 20 and 50 mg/day, respectively. Dietary intakes of BDE 209 were 50−238 ng/day (median 95), whereas those via dust ingestion were 0.4−11 ng/day (median 1.8) or 1.0−29 ng/day (median 4.6) for dust ingestion rates of 20 and 50 mg/day, respectively. It is important to acknowledge the uncertainty associated with the dust ingestion rates. Concentrations of Σtri-hepta BDEs measured in blood serum were 0.9−7.2 ng/g lipid weight (lw) (median 1.9). This is similar to other European populations, but lower than for non occupationally exposed Americans (average of 19 ng/g lw). When compared with estimates of exposure via both dietary and indoor dust ingestion for Americans, the exposures reported here are consistent with the hypothesis that the difference between European and American body burdens of PBDEs is attributable primarily to greater exposure via dust ingestion for Americans. The total intake of PBDEs through food and dust for each participant could not be correlated with the corresponding serum concentration. Instead, it is hypothesized that past and episodic current higher intakes of PBDEs are more important determinants of body burden than continuous background exposures at the low levels measured in this study. [end quote]

Clearly it is important to identify sources of BDEs leading to our environment and finally our food-chain. This aspect needs further research in New Zealand.

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