Environment International 36 (2010) 557562

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Environment International
j o u r n a l h o m e p a g e : w w w. e l s ev i e r. c o m / l o c a t e / e n v i n t

Simultaneous determination and assessment of 4-nonylphenol, bisphenol A and

triclosan in tap water, bottled water and baby bottles
Xu Li, Guang-Guo Ying , Hao-Chang Su, Xiao-Bing Yang, Li Wang
State Key Laboratory of Organic Geochemistry, Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510640, China

a r t i c l e

i n f o

Article history:
Received 9 June 2009
Accepted 14 April 2010
Available online 7 May 2010
Keywords:
Contaminants
Drinking water
Baby bottle
Endocrine disrupting chemicals
Risk

a b s t r a c t
This study investigated the levels of 4-nonylphenol (4-NP), bisphenol A (BPA) and triclosan (TCS) in bottled
water and tap water in Guangzhou and release of these chemicals from baby bottles using gas
chromatographymass spectrometry with negative chemical ionization. Results show that 4-NP was present
in all the bottled water while 17 out of 21 contained BPA and 18 out of 21 contained TCS. Their
concentrations in bottled water ranged from 108 to 298 ng/L, 17.6 to 324 ng/L and 0.6 to 9.7 ng/L,
respectively. Five of the tap water samples from six drinking water plants were found to contain 4-NP and
BPA both in June and December, while TCS was detected in the same ve plants only in June. The highest
concentrations in tap water for 4-NP, BPA and TCS were 1987, 317 and 14.5 ng/L, respectively. Daily intakes
of 4-NP, BPA and TCS of adults by drinking 2 L of tap water were estimated to be 1410, 148 and 10 ng/day,
respectively. BPA was found to be released within 24 h from four brands of baby bottles at room temperature
(24 C), 40 C and 100 C. Increased temperature led to higher release of BPA from the baby bottles.
Estimated daily intakes of 4-NP, BPA and TCS for infants were 705, 1340 and 5 ng/day, respectively, by
drinking 1 L of tap water from a baby bottle at 40 C. This study showed that the exposure to the three
compounds from drinking water is unlikely to pose a health risk.
2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
In the last decades, 4-nonylphenol (4-NP), bisphenol A (BPA) and
triclosan (TCS) attracted a lot of attention due to their potential
endocrine disrupting effects on, or toxicity to wildlife as well as their
human health concerns (Alexander et al., 1988; Yokota et al., 2001;
Orvos et al., 2002; Rule et al., 2005; Ying, 2006; Fiss et al., 2007; Soares
et al., 2008; Uchiyama et al., 2008; Yang et al., 2008). These three
chemicals have been widely used in domestic products such as
surfactants and food packaging lms for 4-NP (White et al., 1994;
Khim et al., 1999; Guenther et al., 2002; Ying et al., 2002; Gatidou et al.,
2007; Uchiyama et al., 2008), polycarbonates (PC) and epoxy resins
products (such as baby bottles and food containers) for BPA (Olea et al.,
1996; Biles et al., 1997; Vandenberg et al., 2007), and personal care
products (such as toothpaste, cosmetics, skin care creams and lotions,
soaps and dental products) for TCS (Jones et al., 2000; McAvoy et al.,
2002; Tsai et al., 2008). It is therefore necessary to understand human
exposure to these chemicals through consumer products.
There are various routes of human exposure to the three
chemicals, especially through consumption of food and water.
Previous studies reported presence of 4-NP, BPA and TCS in human
milk and food (Ademollo et al., 2008; Allmyr et al., 2006, 2008;

Corresponding author. Tel./fax: + 86 20 85290200.

E-mail address: guangguo.ying@gmail.com (G.-G. Ying).
0160-4120/$ see front matter 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.envint.2010.04.009

Ballesteros-Gmez et al., 2009; Canosa et al., 2008; Dayan, 2007;

Guenther et al., 2002; Lu et al., 2007). Ademollo et al. (2008) pointed
out that levels of 4-NP in breast milk were related to sh
consumption. High concentrations of 4-NP have been reported in
seafood from Italy (Ferrara et al., 2005, 2008). Guenther et al. (2002)
and Lu et al. (2007) indicated that 4-NP is ubiquitous in food products
and one of the sources was found to be polyvinyl chloride (PVC) lms
for food packaging from which 4-NP migrated into foodstuffs (Inoue
et al., 2001; Loyo-Rosales et al., 2004).
A recent study has suggested that the primary route for human
exposure to BPA is through contaminated foods and beverages (Kang
et al., 2006). In addition, BPA could leach out from many consumer
products containers (baby bottles, epoxy resins and other consumer
plastics) under normal use conditions (Vandenberg et al., 2007; Le et al.,
2008). Although BPA has been shown to have estrogenic potency and it
may increase cancer susceptibility through developmental reprogramming (Keri et al., 2007), there has been an ongoing debate about its
adverse endocrine disruptive effect on humans (Kang et al., 2006).
TCS is regarded as a potential weak androgenic compound (Foran
et al., 2000) and its metabolite a weak estrogenic compound
(Ishibashi et al., 2004). The dominant source of exposure to TCS was
demonstrated to be personal care products containing TCS (Allmyr
et al., 2006). Although adverse effects of TCS have not been
established in humans, research is still needed to understand various
sources of TCS due to its high-volume usage in many personal care
products.

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X. Li et al. / Environment International 36 (2010) 557562

There have also been many reports on the occurrence of these

three compounds in surface water around the world (e.g. Kolpin et al.,
2002; Lindstrm et al., 2002; Staples et al., 1998; Ying et al., 2002;
Zhao et al., 2009); however, little has been done on the exposure of
these three compounds through drinking water.
The aim of this study was to estimate daily intakes of the target
compounds (4-NP, BPA and TCS) by drinking water for both adults and
infants. We investigated levels of 4-NP, BPA and TCS in bottled water and
tap water available in Guangzhou, South China. Besides adults, infants
need more attention based on a recent study that infants are particularly
susceptible to water contaminants (Levallois et al., 2008). Thus this
study also evaluated 4-NP, BPA and TCS migration from baby bottles as
well. A simultaneous extraction and analysis method using gas
chromatographymass spectrometry with negative chemical ionization
(GC-NCI-MS) was developed to determine the concentrations of 4-NP,
BPA and TCS in drinking water and their leaching into water from newly
purchased baby bottles.
2. Materials and methods
2.1. Standards and reagents
Chemical standards 4-nonylphenol (4-NP), bisphenol-A (BPA),
triclosan (TCS) were obtained from Dr. Ehrenstorfer GmbH (Germany)
or Supelco (USA), whereas 4-n-nonylphenol (4-n-NP), [2H16] bisphenol-A (BPA-d16), 13C-labelled triclosan (13C-TCS) used as internal
standards were obtained from Dr. Ehrenstorfer GmbH (Germany),
Supelco (USA), and Cambridge Isotope Laboratories Incorporation
(Massachusetts, USA), respectively. Detailed information about these
standards is listed in Table 1. The derivatization reagent pentauorobenzoyl chloride (PFBOCl, purity N99%) was obtained from Aldrich.
Solvents methanol, n-hexane, toluene, ethyl acetate, dichloromethane
(DCM) and pyridine (HPLC-grade) were purchased from Merck
Corporation (Shanghai, China). Supelclean ENVI-18 solid phase extraction cartridges (500 mg, 3 ml) were purchased from Supelco Corporation. To avoid the contamination of 4-NP, BPA and TCS, no plastics were
allowed to be used in the experiment, and all glassware was baked for
4 h at 400 C before use. Stock solutions of the standards were prepared
at 100 mg/L in methanol and stored in amber glass bottles at 18 C for
later use. The working solution of the derivatization reagent 2% (v/v) of
PFBOCl was prepared by diluting pure derivatization reagents with
toluene, which was kept in a glass desiccator to prevent quality
deterioration due to moisture in the air.
2.2. Sample collection and preparation
Twenty-one brands of bottled water including mineral water and
pure drinking water were purchased from a local supermarket in
Guangzhou. They were stored unopened at room temperature (RT) until
extraction. Tap-water samples (1 L each) were collected from six local
residential houses, representing 6 different drinking water supply
plants of Guangzhou, and the sites were chosen to be close to the nearest

plants. 50 mL of HPLC-grade methanol and 400 L of 4 M H2SO4 were

added to the tap water samples collected in amber glass bottles
immediately. In addition, they were transported in coolers and stored in
a cold room at 4 C until analysis. For each brand of bottled water and all
the tap water, three replicates were sampled and analyzed. Moreover,
procedural blanks and spikes were included for each batch of samples as
quality control.
Migration of the three compounds from baby bottles was investigated at three different temperatures (24 C, 40 C and 100 C) after
24 h. Four commonly used brands of PC baby bottles (B1, B2, B3 and B4)
were purchased from a local supermarket in Guangzhou. The volume of
all the baby bottles was 240 mL. For each sample, 240 mL of Milli-Q
grade water was added to each bottle and the baby bottles were then put
in water baths at 24 C, 40 C and 100 C. For the experiment under the
condition of 100 C, the baby bottles were immersed in boiling Milli-Q
grade water only for 1 h and then kept at room temperature for 24 h.
Then the samples (240 mL each) were transferred to amber glass bottles
for solid phase extraction. Time effect on migration was also
investigated by continuously monitoring the release of BPA under
normal use conditions at 24 C and 40 C. On day 1, day 3, day 5 and day
7, 240 mL water samples were all transferred to amber glass bottles for
solid phase extraction and then another 240 mL Milli-Q grade water was
added to the same baby bottle immediately. For all these conditions, the
baby bottles were wrapped in aluminum foil to avoid photolysis due to
exposure to light. Three replicate baby bottles of each brand were used
during the experiments. Procedural blanks were included in the
extraction as well.
2.3. Solid phase extraction
Before extraction, the pH value of each water sample was
adjusted to 3 using 4 M H2SO4 and 50 mL of HPLC-grade methanol
was added into the water to increase extraction efciency. And
100 L each of 1 mg/L of 4-n-NP, BPA-d16 and 13C-TCS were spiked
into each sample as internal standards. The cartridges were
conditioned by 10 mL of methanol and 10 mL of Milli-Q water.
Then water samples passed through the SPE cartridges at a ow rate
of 10 mL/min. In order to remove any interference, sample bottles
were rinsed with 2 50 mL of 5% (v/v) methanol in Milli-Q water
that also passed through SPE cartridges. After loading of the
samples, the cartridges were dried under vacuum for 2 h. The
analytes were eluted from the cartridges using 8 mL ethyl acetate.
The eluates were concentrated to dryness under a gentle stream of
nitrogen, and then redissolved in methanol to a nal volume of
1 mL. Each nal extract was ltered through a 0.45 m membrane
lter into a 2 mL amber glass vial and kept at 18 C until analysis.
2.4. Derivatization
The method of derivatization was carried out based on previously
reported methods (Boitsov et al., 2004; Zhao et al., 2009). The
procedure was operated using a 10 ml glass tube (KIMAX, USA) with a

Table 1
Parameters of the target compounds and selected ions in GC-NCI-MS.
Compoundsa
c

4-n-NP (I.S.)
4-NP
BPA-d16 (I.S.)
BPA
13
C12-TCS (I.S.)
TCS
a
b
c

Supplier

M.W.c

R.T. (min)c

Ionsb

Dr. Ehrenstorfer
Dr. Ehrenstorfer
Supelco
Supelco
Cambridge
Dr. Ehrenstorfer

220
220
244
228
301.5
289.5

19.04
17.63
25.51
25.62
20.41
20.42

414.1
414.1
630.0
616.0
494.0
484.8

4-NP: 4-nonylphenol; BPA: bisphenol-A; TCS: triclosan.

The underlined ions are the ones used for quantication.
I.S.: internal standard; M.W.: molecular weight; R.T.: retention time.

415.0
415.0
630.9
617.0
495.8
483.8

416.0
416.0
420.1
405.9
298.9
286.8

300.8
288.8

X. Li et al. / Environment International 36 (2010) 557562

polytetrauoroethylene (PTFE) screw cap. Firstly, 100 L of the nal

extract in methanol was transferred to the test tube and the solvent
was dried under a gentle nitrogen stream. Secondly, 2 mL of 1 M
NaHCO3 and 1 mL of 1 M NaOH were added. After shaking for 30 s,
2 ml of n-hexane, 50 L of 10% pyridine in toluene and 50 L of 2%
PFBOCl in toluene were added. The tube was tightly capped and hand
shaken violently for 1 min. After the organic phase and aqueous phase
were separated thoroughly, the organic phase was transferred to a
5 mL glass centrifugal tube using a glass pipette. Thirdly, 2 mL of nhexane was added to the 10 mL tube for a second extraction. The tube
was hand shaken for 1 min, and the other procedures were the same
as in the second step. After separated, the supernatant was transferred
to the aforementioned 5 mL glass centrifugal tube. Then the combined
n-hexane mixture was dried under a gentle nitrogen stream. Finally,
the extract was re-dissolved in 100 L of n-hexane, and then
transferred to a 2 mL amber glass vial with a 250 L at-bottomed
insert, which was ready for GC-NCI-MS analysis.

2.5. Analysis
GC-MS analysis of the derivatized samples was carried out using
an Agilent 6890 N gas chromatograph connected to an Agilent 5975B
MSD mass spectrometer with a chemical ionization (CI) source
(Agilent, USA). The target compounds were separated on a capillary
column DB5-MS (30 m 0.25 mm, 0.25 m lm thickness). Helium
was used as the carrier gas and maintained at a constant ow rate of
1.0 mL/min, and the reaction gas was high-purity methane
(N99.999%) with a constant ow of 2.0 mL/min. The temperatures of
both ion source and quadrupole were set at 150 C. A sample volume
of 1 L was injected in splitless mode at an inlet temperature of 300 C.
The GC oven temperature program applied was as follows: from 80 C
(1 min) to 220 C at 10 C/min, from 220 C to 260 C at 4 C/min, and
from 260 C to 300 C (8 min) at 5 C /min, then to the temperature of
310 C (15 min) at 20 C /min. The MS interface temperature was
maintained at 310 C. The characteristic ion fragments of the
derivatized 4-NP, BPA and TCS were selected for quantication and
conrmation under selected ion monitoring mode (Table 1).

559

Table 3
Concentrations of 4-NP, BPA and TCS in bottled water.
Samples

Compounds (ng/L)c
4-NP

S1
S2
S3
S4
S5
S6
S7
S8
S9
S10
S11
S12
S13
S14
S15
S16
S17
S18
S19
S20
S21
Min
Max
Median
a
b
c

129 3
127 30
145 8
126 16
127 7
111 14
108 6
122 12
130 2
111 24
148 43
236 29
219 6
298 53
217 16
210 47
186 35
163 21
271 63
181 3
204 5
108
298
170

BPA

TCS

55.4 4.9
55.3 6.5
44.7 4.5
ND b
ND
ND
ND
22.8 1.7
129 97
78.5 7.1
155 40
324 47
56.2 17.6
285 18
52.0 18.3
17.6 0.7
45.2 47
18.0 2.0
23.4 4.6
19.3 0.2
19.0 0.4
17.6
285
82.4

9.7 2.6
8.7 2.0
7.8 0.5
ND
ND
ND
0.6 0.1
1.6 0.1
2.1 0.8
2.1 0.2
2.6 0.1
3.6 0.4
3.4 0.2
3.2 0.0
3.6 0.1
1.9 0.0
2.9 1.3
2.2 0.2
2.2 0.1
2.5 0.2
2.5 0.2
0.6
9.7
3.5

Mean (ng/mL) standard deviation (n = 3, replicate samples taken at the same time).
ND: not detected.
4-NP: 4-nonylphenol; BPA: bisphenol-A; TCS: triclosan.

3. Results and discussion

3.1. Bottled water
Table 3 lists the concentrations of each compound detected in bottled drinking
water of 21 brands in the market. The detection rate of 4-NP, BPA and TCS was 100%,
81% and 86%, respectively. Concentrations of 4-NP, BPA and TCS ranged from 108 to
298 ng/L, 17.6 to 324 ng/L and 0.6 to 9.7 ng/L, respectively. Among the three target
compounds, 4-NP had the highest average concentration and TCS had the lowest, while
the concentrations of BPA varied the most.
3.2. Tap water

2.6. Validation of the method

The recoveries of the analytes using this analytical method were
tested in four replicates by spiking 5 ng, 100 ng, and 200 ng of each
analyte standard to 1 L of surface water collected from the Liuxi
Reservoir. Two procedural blanks were included at the same time. The
recoveries of each target compound at the three spiking levels were
ranged from 74% to 118% (Table 2). The limit of detection (LOD) and
limit of quantitation (LOQ) of each compound were determined
respectively as three times and ten times the standard derivations
(SD) of seven replicates of the spiked water at the concentration of
5 ng/L. The LOD values for 4-NP, BPA and TCS were set at 2.0, 0.7 and
0.2 ng/L, while the LOQ values were 7.0, 2.0 and 0.5 ng/L, respectively.

Table 2
Recoveries (%) and limits of detection of the target compounds.
Compoundsa

4-NP
BPA
TCS
a
b
c

Spiked concentrationsb
5 ng/L

100 ng/L

200 ng/L

92 4
118 8
105 7

115 13
103 1
98 2

74 5
105 3
97 3

LOD
(ng/L)c

LOQ
(ng/L)c

2.0
0.7
0.2

7.0
2.0
0.5

4-NP: 4-nonylphenol; BPA: bisphenol-A; TCS: triclosan.

Mean (ng/mL) standard deviation (n = 5, replicate samples taken at the same time).
LOD: limit of detection; LOQ: limit of quantitation.

The concentrations of 4-NP, BPA and TCS in tap water from the six drinking water
plants were listed in Table 4. In the June sampling, the three target compounds were all
detected in the six drinking water plants except for Plant 6 without TCS being detected,
and the highest concentrations of all the three target compounds were 1070 ng/L for 4NP, 317 ng/L for BPA and 14.5 ng/L for TCS, which was found in Plant 5. The
concentrations of 4-NP in tap-water samples were the highest among the three target
compounds, ranging from 196 to 1070 ng/L. As for BPA, the concentration varies a lot
from 2.3 to 317 ng/L. The concentrations of TCS ranged from below the LOQ to 14.5 ng/
L. In the December sampling, 4-NP and BPA were detected with concentrations up to
1990 ng/L for 4-NP and 123 ng/L for BPA, but no TCS was detected in all six plants.
3.3. Baby bottles
This study showed that BPA was released from the baby bottles at RT (24 C), 40 C
and 100 C (Table 5). Temperature affected the migration of BPA from baby bottles to a
certain degree, with BPA released signicantly at 100 C. The highest migration of BPA
was found in Brand 3, and the amount released into the water were 267, 987 and
4500 ng at 24 C, 40 C and 100 C within the rst 24 h. The lowest migration of BPA
was found in Brand 1 and Brand 4. No signicant 4-NP and TCS were found released
from the baby bottles at the three temperatures.
Table 6 shows that BPA migrated out continuously into water from the baby bottles
under normal use conditions at 24 C and 40 C. The amount of BPA released from the
baby bottles in the following days was lower than that of the rst day.

4. Discussion
Drinking water is an important route of human exposure to
contaminants including 4-NP, BPA and TCS. Trace levels of these
chemicals were detected in bottled water from a local supermarket in
Guangzhou. The concentration of 4-NP in the bottled water of this

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X. Li et al. / Environment International 36 (2010) 557562

Table 4
Concentrations of 4-NP, BPA and TCS in tap water from six water supply plants.
Phenolic compounds (ng/L)d

Plants

4-NP

BPA

June
a

P1
P2
P3
P4
P5
P6
Min
Max
Median
a
b
c
d

December
406 25
199 66
1160 62
1150 89
566 38
186 13
186
199
909

327 29
286 29
886 13
196 13
1070 106
241 25
196
1073
502

42.5 0.6
54.3 1.8
171 2
7.0 0.8
317 5
2.3 1.6
2.3
317
99.0

Brand

B1
B2
B3
B4
b

December

June

December

14.7 1.2
123 8.4
61.8 5.9
23.8 1.5
19.8 15.6
ND b
19.8
123
48.6

14.1 1.2
4.1 0.4
11.9 0.1
4.1 0.1
14.5 1.2
bLOQ c
bLOQ
14.5
9.7

ND
ND
ND
ND
ND
ND
ND
ND
ND

Mean (ng/mL) standard deviation (n = 3, replicate samples taken at the same time).
ND: not detected.
bLOQ: below the limit of quantitation.
4-NP: 4-nonylphenol; BPA: bisphenol-A; TCS: triclosan.

Table 5
Migration of bisphenol A from baby bottles at different temperatures within 24 h.

TCS

June

Amount released at different temperatures (ng)

24 C

40 C

100 C

ND
117 30 a
267 100
ND b

13 7
206 51
987 181
92

309 107
311 185
4500 1940
34 4

Mean (ng) standard deviation released in 240 mL baby bottles (n = 3).

ND: not detected.

study was similar to the results of Shao et al. (2005). BPA was detected
in 17 out of 21 bottled water samples in this study, while no BPA was
detected in the previous study (Shao et al., 2005). Toyo'oka and
Oshige (2000) reported the presence of 4-NP in mineral water from
poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) bottles in concentrations ranging
from 19 to 78 ng/L. Bottled water is usually sold in plastic containers,
normally PET and high-density polyethylene (HDPE) as well as poly
(vinyl chloride) (PVC). 4-NP could leach out from HDPE and PVC
containers (Loyo-Rosales et al., 2004). BPA could be released into the
water from polycarbonate (PC) drinking bottles at room temperature
(Le et al., 2008). However, it is not clear whether the BPA detected in
this study came from the drinking bottles or the water itself, or both.
Estrogenicity in bottled mineral water has been reported in Germany,
ranging from 2 to 40 ng/L EEQ (estradiol equivalent) (Wagner and
Oehlmann, 2009), suggesting the presence of estrogenic compounds
in the bottled water.
Compared to the U.S.A. drinking water survey data by Benotti et al.
(2009), the concentrations of BPA and TCS in tap water were similar
while the levels of 4-NP were 10 times higher than that in their study.
BPA was also detected at 160 ng/L in Brazilian drinking water, which
was attributed to a large input of raw sewage into surface water (Sodr

et al., 2009). On average, the concentration of 4-NP in winter samples of

tap water was higher than in summer, while BPA and TCS were on the
contrary. Variations in concentrations of the three compounds may be
related to source water quality and treatment. All three compounds
have been found in the source water of these six drinking water
supplies, ranging between 288890 ng/L for 4-NP, 2.21030 ng/L for
BPA and 0.6347 ng/L for TCS (Zhao et al., 2009). It suggests that the
source water in some sections has been heavily polluted. In order to
improve the quality of drinking water in Guangzhou, it is essential that
control measures be applied to reduce the levels of these estrogenic
compounds in source water.
BPA is widely used as the monomer for the production of
polycarbonate (PC) bottles. Previous reports show that BPA can
leach out from PC containers (Biles et al., 1997; Sajiki and Yonekubo,
2004; Wong et al., 2005; Le et al., 2008). The present study conrmed
the continuous release of BPA from PC baby bottles under normal use
conditions. High temperature (100 C) was found to greatly increase
the release rate of BPA from the baby bottles. In fact, it is reported that
dishwashing, boiling and brushing could lead to polymer degradation
(Brede et al., 2003), thus increasing the migration rate of BPA from
baby bottles.
The daily intake of 4-NP, BPA and TCS could be estimated by using
the quantity of consumed drinking water according to the U.S. EPA:
2 L per day for adults (60 kg body weight) and 1 L per day for infants
(10 kg body weight) (U.S. EPA, 2006). The estimation was performed
under two conditions (one using the average value of bottled water
and tap water respectively for adults, and the other using the average
value of tap water and the average concentration detected in the baby
bottles at 40 C within 24 h for infants). From Table 7, if the entire
water intake came from bottled water, an adult would ingest 340 ng/
day of 4-NP, 165 ng/day of BPA and 7 ng/day of TCS. If it came from tap
water, an adult would consume 1410 ng/day of 4-NP, 148 ng/day of
BPA and 10 ng/day of TCS, and an infant would ingest 705 ng/day of 4-

Table 6
Migration of bisphenol A from baby bottles at different times under normal use conditions.
Brand

B1
B2
B3
B4
a
b

Day 1

Day 3

Day 5

Day 7

24 C

40 C

24 C

40 C

24 C

40 C

24 C

40 C

ND b
117 30 a
267 100
ND

13 7
206 51
987 181
92

1.9 3.2
44 40
84 16
24 31

27 3
52 14
237 17
24 1

ND
11 8
33 22
ND

38 6
79 17
254 42
51 5

ND
27 17
51 29
ND

35 18
74 26
161 48
12

Mean (ng) standard deviation released in 240 mL baby bottles (n = 3).

ND: not detected.

X. Li et al. / Environment International 36 (2010) 557562

Table 7
Daily intakes of 4-NP, BPA and TCS through drinking water.
Compoundsa

4-NP
BPA
TCS

Adults (ng/day)b

Infants (ng/day)b

Bottled water

Tap water

Tap water (baby bottle at 40 C)

340
165
7

1410
148
10

705
1340
5

4-NP: 4-nonylphenol; BPA: bisphenol-A; TCS: triclosan.

Calculated based on the average concentrations in the water samples and baby
bottles.
b

NP, 1340 ng/day of BPA and 5 ng/day of TCS. From the results, it can be
concluded that different types of water showed large variations of 4NP consumption for adults.
Daily intakes of 4-NP, BPA and TCS through consuming only tap
water and mineral water varied between adults and infants. And the
most concern according to this study is that the daily BPA intake for
infants was 3 times that for adults while infants were more vulnerable
to these toxic substances. However, the daily intake values of 4-NP,
BPA and TCS are much lower than their tolerable daily intake (TDI)
values, which are 5 g/kg body weight for NP (Nielsen et al., 2000),
50 g/kg body weight for BPA (Tsai, 2006) and 50 mg/kg body weight
for TCS (Dayan, 2007). The exposure anticipated from drinking water
is just one of the many sources of EDC contamination; other sources
such as food should be included in order to have a proper risk
assessment for the three compounds. We also need to bear in mind
that health risk assessment with a single compound may not fully
reect the effects of exposures to EDC mixture in the real
environment.
5. Conclusion
This study demonstrated that 4-NP, BPA and TCS were ubiquitous
in drinking water including tap water, mineral water and pure
drinking water. BPA can be released into the water from PC baby
bottles at room temperature, 40 C and 100 C. Daily intake of 4-NP,
BPA and TCS through drinking tap water is 1410 ng/day, 148 ng/day
and 10 ng/day, respectively for adults, and 705 ng/day, 1340 ng/day,
and 5 ng/day, respectively for infants. Most disturbingly, the daily
intake of BPA for infants is nearly 10 times that for adults. However,
based on this study, exposure to these three compounds from
drinking water poses little risk to human health. But further research
is needed to consider mixture effects and combined ingestion routes
including food and water in order to make a more realistic human
health risk assessment of daily intake of 4-NP, BPA and TCS.
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to acknowledge the nancial support from the
National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC40688001, 40771180
and 40821003) and from the Guangdong Provincial Natural Science
Foundation (8251064004000001). This is the contribution No. 1187 from
GIGCAS.
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