Dien NT.; Hirai Y.; Miyazaki T.; Sakai S. (2015) Proceedings of 7th International Symposium on Brominated Flame Retardants (BFR2015), pp. O-41
Introduction
Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) are some of the most widely used brominated flame retardants (BFRs). Because of their toxicity, penta-BDEs and octa-BDEs have been phased out and listed as persistent organic pollutants (POPs) by the Stockholm Convention in 2009. Many monitoring studies on atmospheric PBDEs have been conducted at various locations in worldwide1 to determine the effectiveness of the reduction policies. In this study, in continuation of our previous work2 conducted during 2000−2001, atmospheric PBDEs were measured in Kyoto City again during 2012−2013. The aim was to examine the temporal trends of these substances, their congener profiles, and the seasonal changes more than a decade after the previous study. These observations were compared with the annual monitoring data for PBDEs, obtained by the Japan Ministry of Environment (JMOE)3 during 2009−2012. The comparison was done to identify the trends of these compounds in the air, with an emphasis on the congener profile distributions and seasonal changes. In addition, a multiple linear regression model was applied to elucidate the seasonal trends of PBDEs with regard to different sampling sites over the JMOE data.