Are cell phones an indicator of personal exposure to organophosphate flame retardants and plasticizers?

Background: Exposure to organophosphate ester (OPE) flame retardants and plasticizers is widespread and is of concern due to their toxicity.

Objectives: To investigate relationships between and within OPE concentrations in air, dust, hands, electronic product wipes and urinary metabolites with the goal of identifying product sources and exposure pathways.

Methods: Women in Toronto and Ottawa, Canada, provided a urine sample, two sets of hand wipes, access to their homes for air and dust sampling, and completed a questionnaire.

Passive air sampling of flame retardants and plasticizers in Canadian homes using PDMS, XAD-coated PDMS and PUF samplers.

Passive air samplers (PAS) were evaluated for measuring indoor concentrations of phthalates, novel brominated flame retardants (N-BFRs), polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), and organophosphate esters (OPEs). Sampling rates were obtained from a 50-day calibration study for two newly introduced PAS, polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) or silicone rubber PAS (one with and one without a coating of styrene divinyl benzene co-polymer, XAD) and the commonly used polyurethane foam (PUF) PAS. Average sampling rates normalized to PAS surface area were 1.

Organizational effects of perinatal exposure to bisphenol-A and diethylstilbestrol on arcuate nucleus circuitry controlling food intake and energy expenditure in male and female CD-1 mice.

The endocrine disrupting compound bisphenol-A (BPA) has been reported to act as an obesogen in rodents exposed perinatally. In this study, we investigated the effects of early-life BPA exposure on adult metabolic phenotype and hypothalamic energy balance circuitry. Pregnant and lactating CD-1 dams were exposed, via specially prepared diets, to 2 environmentally relevant doses of BPA.