PARENT SESSION
4E Polyfluorinated and polybrominated chemicals: Environmental aspects
9:00 AM to 7:00 PM, Monday, 07 May 2001

(M/MF145) Uptake of brominated and chlorinated flame retardents in earthworm and SPMD and their toxic effects on soil living organisms.

Hartnik, Thomas¹, Norli, Hans-Ragnar¹, Amundsen, Carl-Einar¹, ¹

ABSTRACT- The uptake of decabromodiphenylether (DBDPhE), tetrabrombisphenol A (TBBP A) and chlorinated paraffins (CP) in earthworm (eisenia fetida) was compared with uptake in SPMD in order to investigate if these flame retardents are taken up by soil living organisms and if SPMD can mimic uptake of these hydrophobic compounds in soil living organisms. Toxic effects of the chosen flame retardents on soil organisms are monitored in survival and reproduction tests with eisenia fetida for a concentration range between 0 and 100 mg/kg. The chemical analyses of DBDPhE, TBBP A and CP were conducted using GC-AED (atomic emission detector). This detector type can be very useful for the analyses of these compounds because of its selectivity against specific elements (f.eks. bromine, chlorine). Element selecti-vity compared minimizes cleanup of the samples and makes the AED detector to a very sui-table detection method when analysing brominated and chlorinated flame retardents in com-plex matrices.

Key words: brominated flame retardents, earthworm toxicity, Semipermeable membrane devices, bioavailability