Temporal trends and health risks of organophosphorus flame retardants in fishes in Taihu Lake from 2013 to 2018

Organophosphorus flame retardants (OPFRs) are synthetic, physical additive flame retardants widely detected in the environment. To investigate the temporal trends of OPFRs in Taihu regions and the associated health risks from fish consumption, 150 fish samples of five species were collected from Taihu Lake in China from 2013 to 2018. Eight OPFRs were measured, having 2-ethylhexyl diphenyl phosphate (90.7%) and tris (1,3-dichloro-2 propyl) phosphate (21.5%) as the most and least frequently detected OPFRs, respectively. Among the eight OPFRs, tris (chloropropyl) phosphate concentration (446 pg/g, wet weight) was higher than others. The maximum cumulative concentration of the OPFRs (Sigma(8)OPFRs) was observed in large icefish (1.69 x 10(3) pg/g), while silver carp (841 pg/g) had the lowest. For the temporal trends, higher levels of Sigma(8)OPFRs (1.91 x 10(3) pg/g) were detected in 2013 than in other years, although no significant change in the trend occurred over time. The estimated daily intake of OPFRs from large icefish consumption was 1.20 x 103 pg/kg-bw/day, higher than that of other fish species. The Monte Carlo simulations showed that <= 0.3% of adults and children would suffer noncancer health risks from OPFRs via fish consumption. This study provides the first data on temporal trends of OPFRs in Taihu Lake.