Assessing children's exposure to contaminants in house dust

Abstract

House dust is regularly analyzed to detect the presence of harmful chemicals in the residential environment. Because children's behaviors cause them to more frequently come into contact with house dust on floors and near-floor surfaces, it also offers more potential for exposure to chemicals. In this chapter, we provide a demonstrative example of a child's exposure to brominated flame retardants in house dust using recently published literature that measures legacy and novel flame retardants in U.S. homes. The case study focuses on three child life stages that span ages 1 year to 6 years, when children are particularly active with respect to ingesting non-edible materials such as soil, house dust, and other small objects. Average daily intake due to dust ingestion are calculated for each life stage, including a central tendency exposure estimate, as well as a worst-case exposure estimate. The results of the case study serve to update the current status of exposure to brominated flame retardants in children and investigate trends in children's ingestion rates over the last decade. Critical data gaps encountered during the analysis help to identify future research needs such as additional measurements of novel flame retardant chemicals in house dust, as well as biomonitoring studies of flame retardants of the general population and children. Additional toxicology studies on novel brominated flame retardants would facilitate the expansion of this case study into a risk assessment.