Brominated flame retardants in black plastic kitchen utensils: concentrations and human exposure implications
Kuang J, Abdallah MAE, Harrad S (2018). Science of the Total Environment.
What they found
Bromine was detected in 31 of 69 utensils bought before 2011 but only 3 of 27 bought after 2011, suggesting contamination from recycled electronics plastic. In simulated cooking, about 20% of flame retardants on average moved from utensils into hot oil. Estimated median exposure from cooking with contaminated utensils was 60 ng per day of total brominated flame retardants; skin contact was minimal.
- Sample
- 96 plastic kitchen utensils (UK)
- What it can't tell you
- Small UK sample; only 30 utensils got full chemical analysis. Exposure estimate rests on a hot-oil simulation. Bromine was always higher than measured flame retardants, so some were missed. No health outcomes. The later Liu 2024 paper misapplied this study's exposure formula (corrected).
- Funding
- Not checked (full text inaccessible). Europe PMC lists the University of Birmingham, China Scholarship Council and the UK Food Standards Agency.
- Topics
- Cookware, Recycling, Chemicals
- Checked against
- Abstract (Europe PMC, PMID 28847134)