Mitigating Environmental and Health Risks Associated with Uncontrolled Recycling of Electronic Waste: Are International and National Regulations Effective? - Environmental Contamination: Health Risks and Ecological Restoration - page 198

The.concentrations.of.PCBs.in.the.three.types.of.human.samples.(hair,.pla-
centa,.and.milk).collected.from.Taizhou.were.all.signiicantly.higher.( p .<.0.05).
(7.6,.5.0,.and.3.1.times,.respectively).than.those.at.the.control.site.(Lin'an).(Xing.
2008).. When. comparing. with. the. results. from. the. third. WHO-coordinated.
study,.in.which.all.human.milk.samples.were.collected.after.2000,.Taizhou.
topped.the.list.with.regard.to.WHO-PCB-TEQ.values..On.a.global.basis,.the.
PCB.levels.and.WHO-PCB-TEQ.levels.in.placenta.and.hair.samples.collected.
from.both.Taizhou.and.Lin'an.ranked.at.the.high.end..However,.PCB.levels.
in. human. milk. were. not. as. high. as. expected.. The. average. PCB. concentra-
tion.in.human.milk.was.38.and.12.times.lower.in.Guiyu.than.in.Taizhou.and.
Lin'an,. respectively.. The. e-waste. workers. at. Guiyu. have. a. lower. standard.
of. living. than. the. workers. in. the. other. two. towns,. as. relected. by. a. lower.
consumption.of.ish.and.meat.(Xing.2008)..Furthermore,.the.environmental.
contamination. attributed. to. PCBs. at. Guiyu. was. not. as. prevalent. as. in. the.
other.two.cities..Most.of.the.donors.were.not.primiparous.mothers;.therefore,.
a.decrease.of.the.PCB.accumulation.in.the.body.may.have.been.a.result.of.
fore.lactation.(Fitzgerald.et.al..1998)..Moreover,.median.PBDE.concentrations.
in. blood. serum. of. e-waste. workers. in. Guiyu. were. found. to. be. three. times.
higher.compared.to.the.inhabitants.of.a.ishing.district.50.km.east.of.Guiyu.
(Bi. et. al.. 2007).. Levels. of. Pb. and. Cd. in. the. blood. of. Guiyu. children. were.
higher.than.that.of.children.from.a.reference.site.(Zheng.et.al..2008).
Potential Health Risk of Adults and Infants at the E-Waste Recycling Sites
Table.10.2.shows.the.estimated.daily.intakes.(EDI).of.different.POPs.of.adults.
and.breast-fed.infants.at.the.two.e-waste.recycling.sites.(Guiyu.and.Taizhou).
compared.with.the.control.site.(Lin'an).
Several.EDIs.of.PCDD/Fs,.PBDEs,.and.PCBs.were.found.to.be.higher.than.
the. reference. doses. for. adults. and. infants. at. the. 5%. probability. level.. The.
daily.intakes.of.PCDD/Fs.by.infants.via.breast-feeding.exceeded.the.WHO.
Tolerable.Daily.Intake.(1-4.pg.WHO-TEQ/kg.bw/day).by.at.least.25.and.11.
times. in. Taizhou. and. Lin'an,. respectively. (Chan. et. al.. 2007).. The. recently.
proposed. reference. dose. for. BDE-47. by. U.S.. EPA,. based. on. developmental.
neurotoxicity,. is. 100.ng/kg/day. (Costa. and. Giordano. 2007).. Therefore,. the.
estimated. daily. intake. of. BDE-47. (584.ng/kg. bw/day). by. Guiyu. women.
exceeded. the. reference. dose. (100.ng/kg/day). by. nearly. 6. times.. The. maxi-
mum.EDI.value.for.BDE-47.for.breast-fed.Taizhou.infants.was.534.ng/kg.bw/
day,.which.also.exceeded.the.reference.dose.for.BDE-47.(Leung.et.al..2010).
In.comparison.to.published.average.daily.intakes.for.adults.in.other.coun-
tries,. the. EDI. values. for. Taizhou. mothers. were. at. the. higher. end,. exceed-
ing.the.FAO/WHO.tolerable.intake.limit.(70.pg.TEQ/kg.bw/month).(JECFA.
2001).. The. EDIs. of. PCB. levels. at. Lin'an. and. Guiyu. were. comparable. to.
those. of. the. United. Kingdom. (0.22-0.46.ng/person/day). (Juan. et. al.. 2002),.
Japan.(0.166-0.523.ng/person/day).(Koizumi.et.al..2005),.and.northern.Italy.
(0.26.ng/person/day).(Turci.et.al..2006).