PMID- 32229383
OWN - NLM
STAT- MEDLINE
DCOM- 20200710
LR  - 20200710
IS  - 1879-1026 (Electronic)
IS  - 0048-9697 (Linking)
VI  - 723
DP  - 2020 Jun 25
TI  - Informal e-waste recycling and plasma levels of non-dioxin-like polychlorinated 
      biphenyls (NDL-PCBs) - A cross-sectional study at Agbogbloshie, Ghana.
PG  - 138073
LID - S0048-9697(20)31586-2 [pii]
LID - 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.138073 [doi]
AB  - Informal e-waste recycling leads to a contamination of the workers with several 
      hazardous substances, in particular heavy metals and persistent organic 
      pollutants (POPs). Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) belong to the group of POPs 
      and are suspected to be associated with adverse health effects. In particular 
      lower chlorinated PCBs, such as the congeners PCB 28 and PCB 52 are a marker of 
      occupational exposure. The aim of our study was to assess the occupational PCB 
      exposure in e-waste workers in relation to their specific recycling task (e.g. 
      dismantling, burning). Altogether, n = 88 e-waste workers and n = 196 control 
      subjects have been included in this study. All plasma participant's samples were 
      evaluated for the PCB congeners PCB 28, 52, 101, 138, 153, 180 and sum of 
      NDL-indicator congeners by human biomonitoring. A significant difference could be 
      detected for the lower chlorinated PCB congeners (PCB 28, 52, and 101) for 
      e-waste workers in comparison to the control group. Analyzing specific recycling 
      tasks, workers who dismantle and those who burn e-waste showed the highest plasma 
      levels of PCB 28 and 52. In conclusion, e-waste workers showed occupational 
      related elevated PCB levels. Although those levels did not exceed the BAT value, 
      workers were contaminated with PCBs during their task. Occupational health and 
      safety measure are therefore necessary to protect the worker's health.
CI  - Copyright (c) 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
FAU - Kaifie, Andrea
AU  - Kaifie A
AD  - Institute for Occupational, Social, and Environmental Medicine, Medical Faculty, 
      RWTH Aachen University, Pauwelsstrasse 30, 52074 Aachen, Germany. Electronic 
      address: akaifie@ukaachen.de.
FAU - Schettgen, Thomas
AU  - Schettgen T
AD  - Institute for Occupational, Social, and Environmental Medicine, Medical Faculty, 
      RWTH Aachen University, Pauwelsstrasse 30, 52074 Aachen, Germany.
FAU - Bertram, Jens
AU  - Bertram J
AD  - Institute for Occupational, Social, and Environmental Medicine, Medical Faculty, 
      RWTH Aachen University, Pauwelsstrasse 30, 52074 Aachen, Germany.
FAU - Lohndorf, Katja
AU  - Lohndorf K
AD  - Institute for Occupational, Social, and Environmental Medicine, Medical Faculty, 
      RWTH Aachen University, Pauwelsstrasse 30, 52074 Aachen, Germany.
FAU - Waldschmidt, Saskia
AU  - Waldschmidt S
AD  - Institute for Occupational, Social, and Environmental Medicine, Medical Faculty, 
      RWTH Aachen University, Pauwelsstrasse 30, 52074 Aachen, Germany.
FAU - Felten, Michael K
AU  - Felten MK
AD  - Institute for Occupational, Social, and Environmental Medicine, Medical Faculty, 
      RWTH Aachen University, Pauwelsstrasse 30, 52074 Aachen, Germany.
FAU - Kraus, Thomas
AU  - Kraus T
AD  - Institute for Occupational, Social, and Environmental Medicine, Medical Faculty, 
      RWTH Aachen University, Pauwelsstrasse 30, 52074 Aachen, Germany.
FAU - Fobil, Julius N
AU  - Fobil JN
AD  - Department of Biological, Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, School 
      of Public Health, University of Ghana, Legon, Accra, Ghana.
FAU - Kupper, Thomas
AU  - Kupper T
AD  - Institute for Occupational, Social, and Environmental Medicine, Medical Faculty, 
      RWTH Aachen University, Pauwelsstrasse 30, 52074 Aachen, Germany.
LA  - eng
PT  - Journal Article
DEP - 20200319
PL  - Netherlands
TA  - Sci Total Environ
JT  - The Science of the total environment
JID - 0330500
RN  - 0 (Environmental Pollutants)
RN  - DFC2HB4I0K (Polychlorinated Biphenyls)
SB  - IM
MH  - Cross-Sectional Studies
MH  - *Electronic Waste
MH  - Environmental Pollutants/*analysis
MH  - Ghana
MH  - Humans
MH  - Polychlorinated Biphenyls/*analysis
MH  - Recycling
OTO - NOTNLM
OT  - Agbogbloshie
OT  - Contamination
OT  - Occupational exposure
OT  - Persistent organic pollutants
COIS- Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known 
      competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared 
      to influence the work reported in this paper.
EDAT- 2020/04/02 06:00
MHDA- 2020/07/11 06:00
CRDT- 2020/04/02 06:00
PHST- 2020/01/17 00:00 [received]
PHST- 2020/03/13 00:00 [revised]
PHST- 2020/03/18 00:00 [accepted]
PHST- 2020/04/02 06:00 [pubmed]
PHST- 2020/07/11 06:00 [medline]
PHST- 2020/04/02 06:00 [entrez]
AID - S0048-9697(20)31586-2 [pii]
AID - 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.138073 [doi]
PST - ppublish
SO  - Sci Total Environ. 2020 Jun 25;723:138073. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.138073. 
      Epub 2020 Mar 19.