Airborne PBDEs in specialized occupational settings, houses and outdoor urban areas in Greece

Airborne polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) were measured in workplaces, homes and urban outdoor air in Greece. The geometric mean concentrations of total PBDEs (sum of 19 congeners) in offices (205 pg m−3), internet cafes/computer rooms (127 pg m−3) and computers/electronics shops (85 pg m−3) were significantly higher than those in furniture stores (12 pg m−3), homes (8 pg m−3) and outdoor air (18 pg m−3). The daily inhalation intake of PBDEs estimated for the employees of the four occupational settings ranged from 0.2 to 1.4 ng day−1 and it was significantly lower than the expected dietary intake (∼77 ng day−1). Although inhalation generally represented a small fraction of the overall daily exposure to PBDEs (∼1%), the results from a heavily contaminated office (10 848 pg m−3 of total PBDEs) indicated that the intake from this route (65 ng day−1) may, in some extreme cases, be as important as diet.