Dietary Exposure to Short-Chain Chlorinated Paraffins Has Increased in Beijing, China

Short-chain chlorinated paraffins (SCCPs) persist in the environment and bioaccumulate in biota and are under review by the Stockholm Convention on persistent organic pollutants. SCCP levels were measured semiquantitatively in pooled 24 h food composite samples from Chinese (n = 10), Korean (n = 10), and Japanese (n = 40) adults in the 1990s and 2007–2009. In Japan, SCCPs were detected in 14 of 20 pooled samples in the 1990s and 13 of 20 pooled samples in 2009. Between these two time points, the geometric mean (GM) of the dietary intake of total SCCPs per body weight was comparable in Japan (54 ng kg-bw–1 day–1 in the 1990s and 54 ng kg-bw–1 day–1 in the 2000s). In Beijing, SCCP levels were elevated by 2 orders of magnitude from 1993 to 2009 (GM: 620 ng kg-bw–1 day–1 in 2009). The 95th percentile estimate of the dietary intake was 1200 ng kg-bw–1 day–1 (>1% of tolerable daily intake). In Seoul, no samples in 1994 contained detectable SCCP levels and only one sample in 2007 showed trace levels of SCCPs. Preliminary evidence on the significant increase in SCCP exposure in Beijing in 2009 warrants urgent investigations to refine dietary intake estimates by targeting food types and source identification.