Human exposure to polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDE), as evidenced by data from a duplicate diet study, indoor air, house dust, and biomonitoring in Germany.

Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDE) are used as flame retardants in a wide variety of products. As part of the Integrated Exposure Assessment Survey (INES), this study aimed to characterize the exposure of an adult German population using duplicate diet samples, which were collected daily over seven consecutive days, and indoor air and house dust measurements. Our study population consisted of 27 female and 23 male healthy subjects, aged 14-60 years, all of whom resided in 34 homes in southern Bavaria.

Concentrations of polybrominated diphenyl ethers, organochlorine compounds and nitro musks in mother's milk from Germany (Bavaria).

The aim of this study was to determine a new spectrum of substances that will be selected for future breast milk monitoring in Bavaria, Germany. Up to now, the analysis of breast milk in Bavaria was limited to selected organochlorine pesticides (OCP) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB). Information on background levels of toxicologically interesting substances, such as dioxins and dioxin-like polychlorinated biphenyls (dl-PCB) or on flame retardants, such as polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDE) are very limited or not available for Bavaria.

[FeII(bpy)3]2+/TiO2-codoped zeolites: synthesis, characterization, and first application in photocatalysis.

TiO2-codoped [FeII(bpy)3]2+/zeolite Y systems are revealed to be efficient photocatalysts for photochemically enhanced Fenton processes. Preparation, characterization, and tests using 2,4-xylidine as a model pollutant are described, and a first mechanistic hypothesis explaining the rather high photochemical reactivity of the catalyst system is given.