The effects of prosperity indices and land use indicators of an urban conurbation on the occurrence of hexabromocyclododecanes and tetrabromobisphenol A in surface soil in South China.

Hexabromocyclododecane (HBCD) and tetrabromobisphenol A (TBBPA) are legacy brominated flame retardants which are still produced and used in China. In this study, 187 surface soils from the Pearl River Delta (PRD) urban conurbation in China were collected, and the effects of urban conurbation development on the concentrations, distributions and human exposure risk of HBCDs and TBBPA were investigated. The concentration ranges of ΣHBCD (sum of α-, β-, and γ-HBCD) and TBBPA in soil were below the limit of quantification (