Sampling method for house dust using a mop and determination of OPFRs, phthalates, and alternative plasticisers in house dust

Abstract

Semi-volatile organic compounds (SVOCs), such as phthalates and organophosphate flame retardants (OPFRs), are used in plastic products and electrical and electronic applications as plasticisers or flame retardants. There has been a growing concern that exposure to SVOCs can have an adverse impact on human health. Several large-scale epidemiological studies employ the sampling of house dust using household vacuum cleaners as the standard method. However, in this method, house dust samples might be contaminated by flame retardants and plasticisers because of the presence of these chemicals in the plastic materials of cleaners. Therefore, this study aimed to develop a low-cost, easy-to-distribute sampling method to collect house dust using a mop and analyse OPFRs, phthalate esters, and alternative plasticisers in house dust. Our findings show that the proposed mop sampling method can be easily distributable and lower contamination from a sampling tool. Moreover, the proposed house dust sampling method is extremely useful for a large-scale survey such as a cohort study.