Perchlorate in sewage sludge, rice, bottled water and milk collected from different areas in China

As a new emerging environmental contaminant, perchlorate has prompted people to pay more attention. The presence of perchlorate in the human body can result in improper regulation of metabolism for adults. Furthermore, it also causes developmental and behavioral problems for infants and children because it can interfere with iodide uptake into the thyroid tissue. In this paper, perchlorate in sewage sludge, rice, bottled drinking water and milk was detected for investigating the perchlorate pollution status in China. The places, where the samples were collected, cover most regions of China. Therefore, the final data on perchlorate levels will give an indication of the perchlorate pollution status in China. The final determination of perchlorate was performed by ion chromatography–electrospray tandem mass spectrometry with negative mode. The concentration of perchlorate in sewage sludge, rice, bottled drinking water and milk was in the range of 0.56–379.9 μg/kg, 0.16–4.88 μg/kg, 0.037–2.013 μg/L and 0.30–9.1 μg/L, respectively. The results show that perchlorate has been widespread in China.