TL;DR: A highly chlorinated flame retardant, Dechlorane Plus (DP), was detected and identified in ambient air, fish, and sediment samples from the Great Lakes region and was also detected in archived fish from Lake Erie, suggesting that this compound is, at least partially, bioavailable.
Abstract: A highly chlorinated flame retardant, Dechlorane Plus (DP), was detected and identified in ambient air, fish, and sediment samples from the Great Lakes region. The identity of this compound was confirmed by comparing its gas chromatographic retention times and mass spectra with those of authentic material. This compound exists as two gas chromatographically separable stereoisomers (syn and anti), the structures of which were characterized by one- and two-dimensional proton nuclear magnetic resonance. DP was detected in most air samples, even at remote sites. The atmospheric DP concentrations were higher at the eastern Great Lakes sites (Sturgeon Point, NY, and Cleveland, OH) than those at the western Great Lakes sites (Eagle Harbor, MI, Chicago, IL, and Sleeping Bear Dunes, MI). Atthe Sturgeon Point site, DP concentrations once reached 490 pg/m3. DP atmospheric concentrations were comparable to those of BDE-209 at the eastern Great Lakes sites. DP was also found in sediment cores from Lakes Michigan and Erie. The peak DP concentrations were comparable to BDE-209 concentrations in the sediment core from Lake Erie butwere about 30 times lower than BDE-209 concentrations in the core from Lake Michigan. In the sediment cores, the DP concentrations peaked around 1975-1980, and the surficial concentrations were 10-80% of peak concentrations. Higher DP concentrations in air samples from Sturgeon Point, NY, and in the sediment core from Lake Erie suggest that DP's manufacturing facility in Niagara Falls, NY, may be a source. DP was also detected in archived fish (walleye) from Lake Erie, suggesting that this compound is, at least partially, bioavailable.
TL;DR: Screening-level modeling data are in general agreement with available environmental measurements, suggesting thatechlorane Plus and it analogs may be persistent, bioaccumulative, and subject to long-range transport and that these chemicals may be candidates for Annex D evaluation under the United Nations Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants.
Abstract: Dechlorane Plus (DP) is a high production volume, chlorinated flame retardant. Despite its long production history, it was only recently found in the environment. The first “sightings” of DP were i...
TL;DR: The extent of bioaccumulation of the syn- and anti-isomers of Dechlorane Plus (DP) is assessed in archived food web samples from Lake Winnipeg and Lake Ontario and suggests that the isomers are bioavailable in sediment and that, despite their molecular size, diffusion from the water column into zooplankton can occur.
Abstract: The extent of bioaccumulation of the syn- and anti-isomers of Dechlorane Plus (DP) is assessed in archived food web samples from Lake Winnipeg and Lake Ontario. Concentrations of the isomers were determined using purified analytical solutions of individual isomers as opposed to the technical mixture. The syn-isomer was consistently detected in all samples from both lakes; the anti-isomer was detected in all Lake Ontario samples, but only 45% of the samples from Lake Winnipeg. The pattern of bioac cumulation was different for the isomers in Lake Winnipeg. The anti-isomer was dominant in higher trophic level (TL) organisms like walleye [arithmetic mean ± 1 × standard error: 730 ± 120 pg/g, lipid weight (lw)] and goldeye (760 ± 170 pg/g, lw) while the syn-isomer dominated the lower TL organisms like zooplankton (550 ± 40 pg/g, lw) and mussels (430 ± 140 pg/g, lw). In Lake Ontario, the extent of bioaccumulation of the isomers and concentrations was greatest in the lower TL benthic organism, Diporeia (syn, 13...
TL;DR: The findings indicate that mother herring gulls are exposed to several, current-use flame retardants via their diet, and in ovo transfer occurred to their eggs.
Abstract: Of the 13, current-use, non-polybrominated diphenyl ether (PBDE) flame retardants (FRs) monitored, hexabromobenzene (HBB), pentabromoethylbenzene (PBEB), pentabromotoluene (PBT), 1,2-bis(2,4,6-tribromophenoxy)ethane (BTBPE) and α- and γ-isomers of hexabromocyclododecane (HBCD), and the syn- and anti-isomers of the chlorinated Dechlorane Plus (DP) were quantified in egg pools of herring gulls (Larus argentatus) collected in 2004 from six sites in all five of the Laurentian Great Lakes of North America. α-HBCD concentrations ranged from 2.1 to 20 ng/g (wet weight (ww)). Other “new” FR levels ranged from 0.004 to 1.4 ng/g ww and were much lower than those of the major BDE congeners that are in technical mixtures (namely BDE-47, -99, -100), where Σ3PBDE ranged from 186 to 498 ng/g ww. Nineteen hepta-BDEs (Σhepta = 4.9−11 ng/g ww), octa-BDEs (Σocta = 2.6−9.1 ng/g ww), and nona-BDEs (Σnona = 0.12−5.6 ng/g ww) were detectible at all six colonies, while BDE-209 was low but quantifiable (<0.1−0.21 ng/g ww) at two ...
TL;DR: More attention should be paid to the contamination with NBFRs and PFRs, instead of PCBs, in these e-waste recycling regions, and local public health threat from PBDE alternatives should remain of concern.