Occurrence and distribution of organophosphate ester flame retardants in indoor dust and their potential health exposure risk.

The occurrence and distribution of 10 organophosphate ester (OP) flame retardants/plasticizers were studied in indoor dust collected in 2 districts of Wuhan City. Total concentrations of the 10 OPs (ΣOPs) varied from 86.5 to 6389 ng/g in 26 dust samples in Caidian District and from 300 to 10 186 ng/g in 27 samples in Jiang'an District. In most dust samples tris(2-chloroethyl) phosphate was dominant over the other OPs, with concentrations of 9.14 to 2722 ng/g (mean 388 ng/g) in Caidian District and 57.3 to 3718 ng/g (mean 616 ng/g) in Jiang'an District. The calculated hazard indices, based on estimated exposure dose via dust ingestion to the reference dose, were much lower than 1. The results suggested that the inhabitants in the 2 regions were at low risk of exposure through dust ingestion. Environ Toxicol Chem 2018;37:345-352. © 2017 SETAC.