Browsing by Author "Amandeep Saini"

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    Flame retardants in urban air: A case study in Toronto targeting distinct source sectors
    (2019-04-01) Amandeep Saini; Jenna Clarke; Narumol Jariyasopit; Cassandra Rauert; Jasmin K. Schuster; Sabina Halappanavar; Greg J. Evans; Yushan Su; Tom Harner; Health Canada; University of Toronto; Faculty of Medicine, Siriraj Hospital, Mahidol University; Ontario Ministry of the Environment; Environment Canada
    © 2019 Based on distinct land-use categories, a sampling campaign was carried out at eight locations across Toronto and the Greater Toronto Area in 2016–2017. Source sectors’ dependent patterns of atmospheric concentrations of 9 organophosphate esters (OPEs), 9 polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) and 5 novel flame retardants (NFRs) showed dominance of OPEs and PBDEs at highly commercialised urban and traffic sites, while NFRs, were dominant at residential sites. Overall, average concentrations of Σ9OPEs (1790 pg/m3) were two orders of magnitude higher than Σ9PBDEs (9.17 pg/m3) and Σ5NFRs (8.14 pg/m3). The atmospheric concentrations of given chemical classes also showed a general trend of lower levels in winter as compared to summer months. Statistically significant negative correlations between the natural logarithm of concentrations and inverse of temperature for some OPEs and PBDEs highlighted the role of volatilization from local sources at given sites as primarily influencing their atmospheric concentrations. Overall, this study adds to the current knowledge of urban settings as a major emitter of the chemicals of emerging concern and their replacements, as well as the ongoing problem of phased out PBDEs due to their presence in existing inventories of commercial/recycled products. It is recommended that long-term monitoring programs targeting flame retardants (FRs) include urban sites, which provide an early indicator of effectiveness of control measures of targeted FRs, while at the same time providing information on emission sources and trends of replacement FR chemicals.
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    GAPS-megacities: A new global platform for investigating persistent organic pollutants and chemicals of emerging concern in urban air
    (2020-12-01) Amandeep Saini; Tom Harner; Sita Chinnadhurai; Jasmin K. Schuster; Alan Yates; Andrew Sweetman; Beatriz H. Aristizabal-Zuluaga; Begoña Jiménez; Carlos A. Manzano; Eftade O. Gaga; Gavin Stevenson; Jerzy Falandysz; Jianmin Ma; Karina S.B. Miglioranza; Kurunthachalam Kannan; Maria Tominaga; Narumol Jariyasopit; Nestor Y. Rojas; Omar Amador-Muñoz; Ravindra Sinha; Rose Alani; R. Suresh; Takahiro Nishino; Tamer Shoeib; Lancaster Environment Centre; Eskisehir Technical University; National Measurement Institute, Australia; Universidad Nacional de Colombia; India Habitat Centre; Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México; Uniwersytet Gdanski; NYU Grossman School of Medicine; American University in Cairo; Peking University; Patna University; Universidad de Chile; Faculty of Medicine, Siriraj Hospital, Mahidol University; The Tokyo Metropolitan Research Institute for Environmental Protection; CSIC - Instituto de Química Orgánica General IQOG; University of Lagos; Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata; Environment Canada; Environmental Company of the State of São Paulo
    © 2020 The Author(s) A pilot study was initiated in 2018 under the Global Atmospheric Passive Sampling (GAPS) Network named GAPS-Megacities. This study included 20 megacities/major cities across the globe with the goal of better understanding and comparing ambient air levels of persistent organic pollutants and other chemicals of emerging concern, to which humans residing in large cities are exposed. The first results from the initial period of sampling are reported for 19 cities for several classes of flame retardants (FRs) including organophosphate esters (OPEs), polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), and halogenated flame retardants (HFRs) including new flame retardants (NFRs), tetrabromobisphenol A (TBBPA) and hexabromocyclododecane (HBCDD). The two cities, New York (USA) and London (UK) stood out with ∼3.5 to 30 times higher total FR concentrations as compared to other major cities, with total concentrations of OPEs of 15,100 and 14,100 pg/m3, respectively. Atmospheric concentrations of OPEs significantly dominated the FR profile at all sites, with total concentrations in air that were 2–5 orders of magnitude higher compared to other targeted chemical classes. A moderately strong and significant correlation (r = 0.625, p < 0.001) was observed for Gross Domestic Product index of the cities with total OPEs levels. Although large differences in FR levels were observed between some cities, when averaged across the five United Nations regions, the FR classes were more evenly distributed and varied by less than a factor of five. Results for Toronto, which is a ‘reference city’ for this study, agreed well with a more in-depth investigation of the level of FRs over different seasons and across eight sites representing different urban source sectors (e.g. traffic, industrial, residential and background). Future sampling periods under this project will investigate trace metals and other contaminant classes, linkages to toxicology, non-targeted analysis, and eventually temporal trends. The study provides a unique urban platform for evaluating global exposome.