Levels and profiles of Dechlorane Plus in a major E-waste dismantling area in China

Dechlorane Plus (DP) is a high-production volume, chlorinated flame retardant comprising two major isomers, syn- and anti-DP. In this study, levels of DP were measured in soil and earthworm samples in farmland from a typical E-waste dismantling area in China. The concentrations of total DP ranged from 0.17 to 1,990 ng g^?1 dw in soil samples and 3.43 to 89.2 ng g^?1 lw in earthworm samples. Higher DP levels were found in some main E-waste dismantling sites than those in other sites. The ratios of anti-DP to total DP (f _anti) ranged from 0.57 to 0.80 in soil samples and 0.47 to 0.81 in earthworm samples, respectively. The f _anti in most samples in this study was in the range of the reported technical DP values. These results showed that improper E-waste dismantling activities could result in the emission of DP. Most earthworm samples showed very low BSAFs (biota-to-soil accumulation factors) for total DP. The values of BSAF were in the range of 0.0007–1.85, with an average value of 0.23. This study presents the first report of the DP in earthworms, which would be useful for ecological risk assessment of DP in terrestrial ecosystem.