Measuring Personal Exposure to Organophosphate Flame Retardants Using Silicone Wristbands and Hand Wipes
Organophosphate flame retardants (PFRs) are widely used as replacements for polybrominated diphenyl ethers in consumer products. With high detection in indoor environments and increasing toxicological evidence suggesting a potential for adverse health effects, there is a growing need for reliable exposure metrics to examine individual exposures to PFRs. Silicone wristbands have been used as passive air samplers for quantifying exposure in the general population and occupational exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. Here we investigated the utility of silicone wristbands in measuring exposure and internal dose of PFRs through measurement of urinary metabolite concentrations. Wristbands were also compared to hand wipes as metrics of exposure. ... Correlations between TDCIPP and TCIPP and their corresponding urinary metabolites were highly significant on the wristbands (rs = 0.5–0.65, p < 0.001), which suggest that wristbands can serve as strong predictors of cumulative, 5-day exposure and may be an improved metric compared to hand wipes.