2. The first Hong Kong TDS aims to estimate the dietary exposure of the Hong Kong population and various population sub-groups to a range of substances and thus assess any associated health risks. The Study commenced in March 2010 and would be completed in 2014. As of December 2013, seven reports, covering “dioxins and dioxin-like polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs)”, “inorganic arsenic”, “polybro...

Levels of the polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), a class of widely used flame retardants, appear to be rising rapidly in human tissues, as evidenced by studies of human breast milk. The case of the PBDEs illustrates the value of breast-milk monitoring programs in identifying important emerging pollutants, and highlights why such monitoring programs are needed in the United States. A review...

China is one of the largest producers and users of brominated flame retardants (BFRs) in the world. This has led to ubiquitous environmental occurrence of the main BFRs commercially available in China, namely polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), hexabromocyclododecanes (HBCDs), and tetrabromobisphenol A (TBBPA). Wastewater from BFR manufacturing, manufacturing of BFR-based products, and e-wa...

Soil and sediment collected in the vicinity of an open electronic waste disposal and recycling facility located in Guiyu, Guangdong, China, were analyzed for the levels of common polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) by using soxhlet extraction and gas chromatography/mass spectrometry. The PBDEs were detected in the soil and sediment samples at levels of 0.26-824 ng/g (dry weight). The obtaine...