Environ Int. 2017 Jan;98:137-142. doi: 10.1016/j.envint.2016.10.025. Epub 2016 Nov 3.
- 1School of Environment,
Guangzhou Key Laboratory of Environmental Exposure and Health,
Guangdong Key Laboratory of Environmental Pollution and Health, Jinan
University, Guangzhou 510632, China.
- 2The Frist Affiliated Hospital of Jinan University, Guangzhou 510632, China.
- 3School of Environment,
Guangzhou Key Laboratory of Environmental Exposure and Health,
Guangdong Key Laboratory of Environmental Pollution and Health, Jinan
University, Guangzhou 510632, China. Electronic address:
yingguo2004@jnu.edu.cn.
- 4Department of Chemistry,
Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region
& HKBU Institute of Research and Continuing Education, Shenzhen
Virtual University Park, Kowloon Tong, Shenzhen, China. Electronic
address: s9362284@hkbu.edu.hk.
Abstract
Food,
air, personal care products and indoor dust have been recognized as the
main routes of exposure to phthalates in Chinese population, but other
sources may have been overlooked, e.g., medicines. To fill the knowledge
gap, phthalate esters were measured in 96 over-the-counter medicines
made in China, including selected 71 Chinese patented medicines and 25
western medicines. It was found that none of the medicines was free of
phthalates. The mean concentrations of individual phthalates ranged from
0.001μg/g (dicyclohexyl phthalate) to 5.85μg/g (diethyl phthalate).
Among 9 targeted phthalates, di-n-butyl phthalate was the dominant
congener, accounting for >65% of the total phthalates in all medicine
samples, followed by di-(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate and diethyl phthalate.
Phthalates in medicines appeared to derive from gastroresistant film
coatings, plastic packing materials or phthalate contaminated rural herbal
plants (especially for Chinese patented medicines). Daily human
exposure to phthalates was estimated for local patients for one
treatment cycle (e.g., one week) based on suggested consumption dosage
and phthalate concentrations. Almost all exposure levels were below the
guidelines suggested by the United States Environmental Protection
Agency or European Food Safety Authority, indicating low health risk
with phthalates from consumption of the medicines. In addition,
concentration levels of phthalates in patients would increase upon
administration but are expected to decrease to the same values as those
in patients before they took medicines in several days. Because the
number of medicine samples was limited and the concentrations of
phthalates varied in a large range, further investigations are needed to
acquire more data for better assessment of human health effects for
Chinese population. Capsule: Distribution of phthalate esters in
over-the-counter medicines and related exposure for Chinese population
are examined.
Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
KEYWORDS:
Chinese population; Di-n-butyl phthalate; Human exposure; Over-the-counter medicine; Phthalate esters
