Study of the adverse effects of phthalates found in children's toys on Vibrio fischeri lethality

ABSTRACT

Phthalates has been widely used in children's toys as plastic plasticizers and softeners. The aim of this study was to extract chemically phthalates from 20 toy samples and determine toxicity using the Vibrio fischeri luminescent bacteria test. Subsequently the (the concentration producing 50% of maximal effect) was employed to characterize the toxicity of the sample and select the appropriate solvent from methanol, ethanol or glycerol in order to assess the adverse effects of di-n-butyl phthalate (DBP) or di-2-ethylhexyl phthalate (DEHP) and not solvent interference on Vibrio fischeri. Data showed that toxicity of glycerol was relatively low when the concentration was less than 0.44 mol/L. Therefore glycerol was selected as solvent. DBP and DEHP produced toxicity on Vibrio fischeri in the order of DEHP > DBP. The was 0.437 and 0.182 mol/L, respectively. This study provides the foundation for examination of combined toxic effects of the mixture of DBP and DEHP on Vibrio fischeri which is of significance for the safety of children's toys as both phthalates were found in these toys.

KEYWORDS:

• Phthalates
• Vibrio fischeri
• glycerol
• luminescent bacteria test

Acknowledgments

This research was mainly supported by the project ‘Study on The Safety Factors Detecting Technology of Entry-Exit Important Traded Goods’ provided by the Chinese Academy of Inspection and Quarantine (Grant No. 2006BAK10B03), and the technical assistant was supported by Beijing Jinda Qingchuang Environmental Technology Co. Ltd.

Disclosure statement

We declared that we have no conflicts of interest to this work.

Additional information

Funding

This research was mainly supported by the project ‘Study on The Safety Factors Detecting Technology of Entry-Exit Important Traded Goods’ provided by the Chinese Academy of Inspection and Quarantine [grant number 2006BAK10B03].