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Phthalates and Bisphenol-A: Determinations, Levels and Effects on Human Health and Environment

A special issue of International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (ISSN 1660-4601). This special issue belongs to the section "Environmental Health".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (10 August 2020) | Viewed by 15968

Special Issue Editor

Department of Agricultural, Environmental and Food Sciences (DiAAA), University of Molise, Via F. De Sanctis, I-86100 Campobasso, Italy
Interests: phthalates; bisphenol-A; plasticizers; microplastics; environment; human health; endocrine disruptors
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Plastic materials are one of the most practical and economical ways to contain food, healthcare, cosmetics and other products today. The development and wide use of plastic materials as containers has led the packaging industry to significantly modify the chemical composition of plastics in recent years. In fact, chemical additives are added to their composition to increase their malleability, shine and workability. Among these additives, the most widely used are phthalates and bisphenol-A (BP-A). Phthalates (PAEs) are compounds synthesized by double esterification of 1,2 benzendicarboxylic acid (phthalic acid) with linear or branched alcohols, whereas BP-A is a pseudo-persistent chemical and, despite its short half-life, it is omnipresent in the environment due to its release. Both of them are dangerous for humans: PAEs are endocrine disruptors, and BP-A is an xenoestrogen disturbing endocrine system functions. Even though different studies have been set up to determine PAE/BP-A presence in (micro)plastics and/or in samples as result of migration process, analytical determination is still a difficult issue and, consequently, risk assessment could be affected by errors.

This Special Issue would like to deepen our understanding of the effects of PAEs and BP-A on human health. Contributions are wellcome in different fields, some of which could be the development of new analytical strategies, effects on biological systems, deepening of the toxicological aspects, risk assessment, new guidelines for legislators, and so on.

Prof. Pasquale Avino
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

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Keywords

  • phthalates
  • bisphenol-A
  • plasticizers
  • microplastics
  • analysis
  • environment
  • human health
  • endocrine disruptors
  • exposure
  • risk

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

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13 pages, 2768 KiB  
Article
Analytical Method Development and Chemometric Approach for Evidencing Presence of Plasticizer Residues in Nectar Honey Samples
by Ivan Notardonato, Sergio Passarella, Giuseppe Ianiri, Cristina Di Fiore, Mario Vincenzo Russo and Pasquale Avino
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2020, 17(5), 1692; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17051692 - 05 Mar 2020
Cited by 14 | Viewed by 3453
Abstract
Over the years, anthropogenic sources have increasingly affected food quality. One of the most sensitive and nutritional matrices affected by chemical contamination is honey, due to the use of acaricides. Recently, the attention has moved to the presence of phthalates (PAEs) and bisphenol [...] Read more.
Over the years, anthropogenic sources have increasingly affected food quality. One of the most sensitive and nutritional matrices affected by chemical contamination is honey, due to the use of acaricides. Recently, the attention has moved to the presence of phthalates (PAEs) and bisphenol A (BP-A), molecules present in plastic materials used both in the production phase and in the conservation of honey. In this study, an analytical method for the simultaneous determination of PAEs (dimethyl phthalate DMP, diethyl phthalate DEP, diisobutyl phthalate DiBP, dibutyl phthalate DBP, bis(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate DEHP, and di-n-octyl-phthalate DnOP) and BP-A was developed. The extraction technique is the ultrasound-vortex-assisted dispersive liquid–liquid microextraction (UVA-DLLME), using 150 µL of toluene as an extraction solvent, followed by the gas chromatography coupled with ion trap mass spectrometry analysis (GC–IT/MS). The developed method is sensitive, reliable, and reproducible: it shows high correlation coefficients (R > 0.999); limits of detection (LODs) less than 11 ng·g−1; limits of quantification (LOQs) less than 16 ng·g−1; repeatability below 3.6%, except BP-A (11.6%); and accuracy below 4.8%, except BP-A (17.6%). The method was applied to 47 nectar honey samples for evidencing similarities among them. The chemometric approach based on Hierarchical Cluster Analysis and Principal Component Analysis evidenced some similitudes about sample origin as well as marked differences between PAE and BP-A sources. Full article
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Review

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43 pages, 1682 KiB  
Review
Critical Review on the Presence of Phthalates in Food and Evidence of Their Biological Impact
by Angela Giuliani, Mariachiara Zuccarini, Angelo Cichelli, Haroon Khan and Marcella Reale
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2020, 17(16), 5655; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17165655 - 05 Aug 2020
Cited by 171 | Viewed by 11729
Abstract
Phthalates are a huge class of chemicals with a wide spectrum of industrial uses, from the manufacture of plastics to food contact applications, children’s toys, and medical devices. People and animals can be exposed through different routes (i.e., ingestion, inhalation, dermal, or iatrogenic [...] Read more.
Phthalates are a huge class of chemicals with a wide spectrum of industrial uses, from the manufacture of plastics to food contact applications, children’s toys, and medical devices. People and animals can be exposed through different routes (i.e., ingestion, inhalation, dermal, or iatrogenic exposure), as these compounds can be easily released from plastics to water, food, soil, air, making them ubiquitous environmental contaminants. In the last decades, phthalates and their metabolites have proven to be of concern, particularly in products for pregnant women or children. Moreover, many authors reported high concentrations of phthalates in soft drinks, mineral waters, wine, oil, ready-to-eat meals, and other products, as a possible consequence of their accumulation along the food production chain and their accidental release from packaging materials. However, due to their different physical and chemical properties, phthalates do not have the same human and environmental impacts and their association to several human diseases is still under debate. In this review we provide an overview of phthalate toxicity, pointing out the health and legal issues related to their occurrence in several types of food and beverage. Full article
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