15 Apr. 2014 - Giulia Poma

Evaluation of bioaccumulation processes of
Brominated Flame Retardants (BFRs) in biotic matrices

Presenta: Giulia Poma ( CNR-IRSA, Brugherio )

The global reduction in the use of PBDEs and HBCD as flame retardants has opened the way for the introduction of “novel” BFRs (nBFRs) in place of the banned formulations, indicating those BFRs that are new in the market or newly/recently observed in the environment in respect to PBDEs and HBCD. Consequently, consumption and production of these nBFRs will keep rising, and increasing environmental levels of these chemicals are expected in the near future.
In Italy, previous studies showed high concentrations of PBDEs in the Varese province due to the presence of a great number of textile and plastic industries, and particularly in the sediments of Lake Maggiore. For these reasons, the present work aimed to evaluate the presence, and the potential bioaccumulation and biomagnification processes of six different classes of BFRs (PBDEs, HBCD, DBDPE, BTBPE, HBB and PBEB) in the Lake Maggiore ecosystem, with particular regard to abiotic (lake and river sediments) and biotic (zebra mussels, zooplankton, and three fish species) matrices.

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