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Tetrabromobisphenol A: Investigating the worst-case scenario
Marine Pollution Bulletin 58 (2009) 459–460
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Marine Pollution Bulletin journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/marpolbul
Editorial
Tetrabromobisphenol A: Investigating the worst-case scenario
Brominated flame retardants are added to a wide range of products, including furniture, electronic equipment and building insulation, in order to improve flame retardancy and suppress fires. They are incorporated into products in two ways, either as additive or reactive flame retardants. Additive flame retardants are mixed into the product at manufacture, whilst reactive flame retardants are bound into the polymer framework during manufacture. The former are more likely to leach from finished consumer products than the latter. Tetrabromobisphenol A (TBBP-A) is used in both ways; its major use is as a reactive flame retardant in the production of laminates for printed circuit boards (80%), but it also has a minor use as an additive flame retardant in acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) resins for use in moulded products such as piping. TBBP-A is manufactured in the USA, Israel, China and Japan, and the global production volume was estimated to be 170,000 tonnes in 2004 (BSEF, 2009; Covaci et al., 2009). TBBP-A is the highest volume flame retardant produced, representing ca. 60% of the total BFR market. The most recent data for TBBP-A usage by geographic area is for 2001 (Covaci et al., 2009). At that time, Asia was the major user (89,400 tons per year), followed by the Americas (18,000 tons per year) and Europe (11,600 tons per year). Brominated flame retardants have been the subject of considerable interest and study since the first reports of residues of polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) in fish collected in Sweden in the 1980s (Andersson and Blomkvist, 1981). Most work to date has concentrated on the PBDEs and hexabromocyclododecane (HBCD), both of which are persistent and bioaccumulative, and can be found in remote areas of the globe. TBBP-A has been less studied and so fewer data are available for use in environmental assessments. Those data reported to 2008 have been summarised by Covaci et al. (2009). In 2004, Martin et al. highlighted the paucity of environmental information available for BFRs in Asian regions, even for PBDEs. In a subsequent review published in 2008 (Law et al., 2008), the authors highlighted two areas of priority study in relation to BFRs; firstly, in relation to e-waste recycling in China (something of a boom industry at the moment); secondly, for TBBP-A in Asian countries in which printed circuit boards for consumer products are produced. These are important as they will be the countries in which TBBP-A is manufactured, transported and used before it is reactively bound. These are, therefore, also the locations at which TBBP-A is most likely to be released to the environment, and where environmental concentrations and exposures are likely to be the highest (the ‘‘worst-case” scenario for possible environmental impacts of TBBP-A). Study of e-waste recycling sites in China has increased more recently, although these studies have mainly focussed on the PBDEs.
Recent reports have included studies of PBDE concentrations in chickens (Luo et al., 2009a), wastewater treatment plants (Peng et al., 2009), road and farmland soils (Luo et al., 2009b), wild aquatic species in a contaminated food web (Wu et al., 2009), and the local atmosphere (Chen et al., 2009) close to e-waste recycling activities. In contrast, in only a single study as far as I am aware have flame retardants other than PBDEs been studied. Shi et al. (2009) determined concentrations of three ‘‘novel” non-PBDE brominated flame retardants in environmental samples from the Pearl River Delta in southern China collected in 2006–2007. Although these included a TBBP-A derivative, the parent compound TBBP-A was not determined in this study. TBBP-A has been subject to a risk assessment of its use within the EU, which concluded that there was no risk to human health or the environment in relation to its primary use as a reactive flame retardant in printed circuit boards and only a limited risk in relation to its secondary use as an additive flame retardant (European Commission, 2006, 2008). However, this did not assess the ‘‘worst-case” scenario outside the EU, with potentially higher levels of exposure to both humans and wildlife around sites of manufacture and first use of TBBP-A in reactive mode. To date, no studies have been conducted which have focussed on a wide range of known sites of manufacture and use, particularly in Asia, in order that this ‘‘worst-case” scenario can be studied in detail. Such studies are urgently needed. References Andersson, Ö., Blomkvist, G., 1981. Polybrominated aromatic pollutants found in fish in Sweden. Chemosphere 10, 1051–1060. Bromine Science and Environmental Forum, 2009. (accessed 13.02.09). Chen, D., Bi, X., Zhao, J., Chen, L., Tan, J., Mai, B., Sheng, G., Fu, J., Wong, M., 2009. Pollution characterization and diurnal variation of PBDEs in the atmosphere of an e-waste dismantling region. Environmental Pollution 157, 1051–1057. Covaci, A., Voorspoels, S., Abdallah, M.A.-E., Geens, T., Harrad, S., Law, R.J., 2009. Analytical and environmental aspects of the flame retardant tetrabromobisphenol-A and its derivatives. Journal of Chromatography A 1216, 346–363. European Commission, 2006. European Risk Assessment Report on 2, 20 , 6, 60 tetrabromo-4, 40 -isopropylidenediphenol (tetrabromobisphenol-A or TBBP-A). Part II, Human Health. European Commission, Joint Research Centre, European Chemicals Bureau, EUR22161E. European Commission, 2008. Draft European Risk Assessment Report on 2, 20 , 6, 60 tetrabromo-4, 40 -isopropylidenediphenol (tetrabromobisphenol-A). Part I, Environment. European Commission, Joint Research Centre, European Chemicals Bureau. Law, R.J., Herzke, D., Harrad, S., Morris, S., Bersuder, P., Allchin, C.R., 2008. Levels and trends of HBCD and BDEs in the European and Asian environments, with some information for other BFRs. Chemosphere 73, 223–241. Luo, X.-J., Liu, J., Luo, Y., Zhang, X.-L., Wu, J.-P., Lin, Z., Chen, S.-J., Mai, B.-X., Yang, Z.Y., 2009a. Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) in free-range domestic fowl
0025-326X/$ - see front matter Crown Copyright Ó 2009 Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.marpolbul.2009.02.023
460
Editorial / Marine Pollution Bulletin 58 (2009) 459–460
from an e-waste recycling site in South China: levels, profile and human dietary exposure. Environment International 35, 253–258. Luo, Y., Luo, X.-J., Lin, Z., Chen, S.-J., Liu, J., Mai, B.-X., Yang, Z.-Y., 2009b. Polybrominated diphenyl ethers in road and farmland soils from an e-waste recycling region in Southern China: concentrations, source profiles, and potential dispersion and deposition. Science of the Total Environment 407, 1105–1113. Martin, M., Lam, P.K.S., Richardson, B.J., 2004. An Asian quandary: where have all the PBDEs gone? Marine Pollution Bulletin 49, 375–382. Peng, X., Tang, C., Yu, Y., Tan, J., Huang, Q., Wu, J., Chen, S., Mai, B., 2009. Concentrations, transport, fate, and releases of polybrominated diphenyl ethers in sewage treatment plants in the Pearl River Delta, South China. Environment International 35, 303–309. Shi, T., Chen, S.-J., Luo, X.-J., Zhang, X.-L., Tang, C.-M., Luo, Y., Ma, Y.-J., Wu, J.-P., Peng, X.-Z., Mai, B.-X., 2009. Occurrence of brominated flame retardants other than polybrominated diphenyl ethers in environmental and biota samples from southern China. Chemosphere 74, 910–916.
Wu, J.-P., Luo, X.-J., Zhang, Y., Yu, M., Chen, S.-J., Mai, B.-X., Yang, Z.-Y., 2009. Biomagnification of polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) and polychlorinated biphenyls in a highly contaminated freshwater food web from South China. Environmental Pollution 157, 904–909.
Robin J. Law Cefas Lowestoft Laboratory, Pakefield Road, Lowestoft, Suffolk NR33 0HT, UK E-mail address: [email protected]
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Marine Pollution Bulletin journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/marpolbul
Editorial
Tetrabromobisphenol A: Investigating the worst-case scenario
Brominated flame retardants are added to a wide range of products, including furniture, electronic equipment and building insulation, in order to improve flame retardancy and suppress fires. They are incorporated into products in two ways, either as additive or reactive flame retardants. Additive flame retardants are mixed into the product at manufacture, whilst reactive flame retardants are bound into the polymer framework during manufacture. The former are more likely to leach from finished consumer products than the latter. Tetrabromobisphenol A (TBBP-A) is used in both ways; its major use is as a reactive flame retardant in the production of laminates for printed circuit boards (80%), but it also has a minor use as an additive flame retardant in acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) resins for use in moulded products such as piping. TBBP-A is manufactured in the USA, Israel, China and Japan, and the global production volume was estimated to be 170,000 tonnes in 2004 (BSEF, 2009; Covaci et al., 2009). TBBP-A is the highest volume flame retardant produced, representing ca. 60% of the total BFR market. The most recent data for TBBP-A usage by geographic area is for 2001 (Covaci et al., 2009). At that time, Asia was the major user (89,400 tons per year), followed by the Americas (18,000 tons per year) and Europe (11,600 tons per year). Brominated flame retardants have been the subject of considerable interest and study since the first reports of residues of polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) in fish collected in Sweden in the 1980s (Andersson and Blomkvist, 1981). Most work to date has concentrated on the PBDEs and hexabromocyclododecane (HBCD), both of which are persistent and bioaccumulative, and can be found in remote areas of the globe. TBBP-A has been less studied and so fewer data are available for use in environmental assessments. Those data reported to 2008 have been summarised by Covaci et al. (2009). In 2004, Martin et al. highlighted the paucity of environmental information available for BFRs in Asian regions, even for PBDEs. In a subsequent review published in 2008 (Law et al., 2008), the authors highlighted two areas of priority study in relation to BFRs; firstly, in relation to e-waste recycling in China (something of a boom industry at the moment); secondly, for TBBP-A in Asian countries in which printed circuit boards for consumer products are produced. These are important as they will be the countries in which TBBP-A is manufactured, transported and used before it is reactively bound. These are, therefore, also the locations at which TBBP-A is most likely to be released to the environment, and where environmental concentrations and exposures are likely to be the highest (the ‘‘worst-case” scenario for possible environmental impacts of TBBP-A). Study of e-waste recycling sites in China has increased more recently, although these studies have mainly focussed on the PBDEs.
Recent reports have included studies of PBDE concentrations in chickens (Luo et al., 2009a), wastewater treatment plants (Peng et al., 2009), road and farmland soils (Luo et al., 2009b), wild aquatic species in a contaminated food web (Wu et al., 2009), and the local atmosphere (Chen et al., 2009) close to e-waste recycling activities. In contrast, in only a single study as far as I am aware have flame retardants other than PBDEs been studied. Shi et al. (2009) determined concentrations of three ‘‘novel” non-PBDE brominated flame retardants in environmental samples from the Pearl River Delta in southern China collected in 2006–2007. Although these included a TBBP-A derivative, the parent compound TBBP-A was not determined in this study. TBBP-A has been subject to a risk assessment of its use within the EU, which concluded that there was no risk to human health or the environment in relation to its primary use as a reactive flame retardant in printed circuit boards and only a limited risk in relation to its secondary use as an additive flame retardant (European Commission, 2006, 2008). However, this did not assess the ‘‘worst-case” scenario outside the EU, with potentially higher levels of exposure to both humans and wildlife around sites of manufacture and first use of TBBP-A in reactive mode. To date, no studies have been conducted which have focussed on a wide range of known sites of manufacture and use, particularly in Asia, in order that this ‘‘worst-case” scenario can be studied in detail. Such studies are urgently needed. References Andersson, Ö., Blomkvist, G., 1981. Polybrominated aromatic pollutants found in fish in Sweden. Chemosphere 10, 1051–1060. Bromine Science and Environmental Forum, 2009.
0025-326X/$ - see front matter Crown Copyright Ó 2009 Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.marpolbul.2009.02.023
460
Editorial / Marine Pollution Bulletin 58 (2009) 459–460
from an e-waste recycling site in South China: levels, profile and human dietary exposure. Environment International 35, 253–258. Luo, Y., Luo, X.-J., Lin, Z., Chen, S.-J., Liu, J., Mai, B.-X., Yang, Z.-Y., 2009b. Polybrominated diphenyl ethers in road and farmland soils from an e-waste recycling region in Southern China: concentrations, source profiles, and potential dispersion and deposition. Science of the Total Environment 407, 1105–1113. Martin, M., Lam, P.K.S., Richardson, B.J., 2004. An Asian quandary: where have all the PBDEs gone? Marine Pollution Bulletin 49, 375–382. Peng, X., Tang, C., Yu, Y., Tan, J., Huang, Q., Wu, J., Chen, S., Mai, B., 2009. Concentrations, transport, fate, and releases of polybrominated diphenyl ethers in sewage treatment plants in the Pearl River Delta, South China. Environment International 35, 303–309. Shi, T., Chen, S.-J., Luo, X.-J., Zhang, X.-L., Tang, C.-M., Luo, Y., Ma, Y.-J., Wu, J.-P., Peng, X.-Z., Mai, B.-X., 2009. Occurrence of brominated flame retardants other than polybrominated diphenyl ethers in environmental and biota samples from southern China. Chemosphere 74, 910–916.
Wu, J.-P., Luo, X.-J., Zhang, Y., Yu, M., Chen, S.-J., Mai, B.-X., Yang, Z.-Y., 2009. Biomagnification of polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) and polychlorinated biphenyls in a highly contaminated freshwater food web from South China. Environmental Pollution 157, 904–909.
Robin J. Law Cefas Lowestoft Laboratory, Pakefield Road, Lowestoft, Suffolk NR33 0HT, UK E-mail address: [email protected]