Brominated flame retardants in trout and eels from the Skerne-Tees river system and total diet study samples

• This work was carried out following reports of elevated concentrations of polybrominated flame retardants (BFRs) in fish and sediment in the River Skerne.
• Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) and hexabromocyclododecanes (HBCDs) were analysed in samples of trout and eels caught at various locations in the Skerne-Tees river system.
• Most of the individual PBDE and HBCD congeners were detected in the majority of samples of trout and eels analysed.
• The concentrations of these chemicals were elevated in fish caught downstream of a site where these flame retardants were being manufactured; concentrations decreased with increasing distance from the site.
• The independent expert Committee on Toxicity of Chemicals in Food, Consumer Products and the Environment (COT) concluded that the estimated dietary intakes of PBDEs and HBCDs from the consumption of a weekly single portion of eels or trout from the Skerne-Tees were unlikely to represent a risk to health. However, in view of the uncertainties surrounding the toxicological database and exposure assessments, this conclusion was considered to be tentative.
• To provide supporting information for this study, the chemicals referred to above, together with tetrabromobisphenol A (TBBP-A) and polybrominated biphenyls (PBBs), were tested for in food group samples from the 2001 Total Diet Study (TDS). No BFRs were detected in any of the TDS food groups.
• Dietary intakes were estimated from the limits of determination for the BFRs in the different food groups. The estimated upper bound adult dietary intakes, from the whole diet, of total PBDEs and total HBCDs respectively would be less than 41 and 11 nanograms/kilogram bodyweight/day for average consumers, and 74 and 18 ng/kg bodyweight/day for high level consumers.