Ubiquity of bisphenol A in the atmosphere

Bisphenol A (BPA) is a suspected endocrine disruptor in the environment. However, little is known about its distribution and transport in the atmosphere. Here, the concentrations of BPA in the atmospheric aerosols from urban, rural, marine, and the polar regions were measured using solvent extractio...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Environmental Pollution
Main Authors: Fu, Pingqing, Kawamura, Kimitaka
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Elsevier
Subjects:
519
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/2115/44534
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2010.06.040
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Summary:Bisphenol A (BPA) is a suspected endocrine disruptor in the environment. However, little is known about its distribution and transport in the atmosphere. Here, the concentrations of BPA in the atmospheric aerosols from urban, rural, marine, and the polar regions were measured using solvent extraction/derivatization and gas chromatography/mass spectrometry technique. The concentrations of BRA (1-17,400 pg m^[-3]) ranged over 4 orders of magnitude in the world with a declining trend from the continent (except for the Antarctica) to remote sites. A positive correlation was found between BPA and 1,3,5-triphenylbenzene, a tracer for plastic burning, in urban regions, indicating that the open burning of plastics in domestic waste should be a significant emission source of atmospheric BRA. Our results suggest that the ubiquity of BRA in the atmosphere may raise a requirement for the evaluation of health effects of BRA in order to control its emission sources, for example, from plastic burning.