Migration of Bisphenol A and several phthalate acid contaminants into bottled drinking water: influence of storage conditions and their health risks

ABSTRACT

The presence of bisphenol A (BPA) and phthalates (PAEs) as endocrine-disrupting chemicals in drinking water stored in polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles leads to serious consideration regarding the possible impacts on human health. Hence, the aim of this study was to evaluate the occurrence and migration of PAEs (DNOP, DMP, DEP, DBP, BBP, DEHP) and BPA from PET bottles into drinking water immediately after production (control) and storage at −18, 4, 25 and 40°C for 30, 60 and 90 days. The main novelty of this study was to investigate the release of hazardous contaminants from PET bottles into drinking water under different storage conditions using the method of magnetic solid phase extraction and Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry technique. The results revealed that control samples contained 0.44 µg/L of DEHP, and the levels of other compounds were below the detectable levels. The migration of phthalates and BPA were positively correlated with temperature and time of storage. The slight increase in the release of compounds started after 30 days of storage under freezing conditions (−18°C). The highest leaching was found at 40°C after 90 days for water bottles with BPA and total phthalates amounting to 0.18 and 5.75 µg/L, respectively. Among the detected phthalate esters, DBP concentration was lower than the other phthalates, and measured levels were in the range of 0.76–0.96 µg/L, whereas the highest migration level was related to DEHP (0.44–3.44 µg/L) and was lower than the permissible limit established by US EPA. The non-carcinogenic health risk assessment indicated HQ for all target compounds was within the safe limit. The carcinogenic risk of DEHP was 1.37 × 10⁻⁶ in samples kept for 90 days at 40°C. Therefore, long-term exposure to DEHP through bottled water consumption did not pose carcinogenic health risks to consumers.

KEYWORDS:

• Bisphenol A
• drinking water
• health risk
• phthalates
• migration

Acknowledgments

We gratefully thank the National Nutrition and Food Technology Research Institute (NNFTRI) and Iranian Bottled Water Association for their efforts in promoting the knowledge, and they supported this work financially.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Author’s contributions

Elham Khanniri: Investigation, Conceptualisation, Writing – original draught, Writing – review & editing, Formal analysis, Resources. Maryam Bayanatia: Investigation, Formal analysis, Writing – review & editing, Software. Mohammad Reza Koushki: Investigation, Validation, Writing – review & editing, Data Curation. Rohollah Ferdosia: Methodology, Investigation, Conceptualisation, Validation, Writing – review & editing. Sara Sohrabvandi: Conceptualisation, Methodology, Investigation, Validation, Visualisation, Writing – review & editing, Supervision, Funding acquisition, Resources, Project administration. Saeideh Esmaeili: Validation, Visualisation. Mohammad Esmaeil Akbari: Investigation, Validation, Writing – review & editing. Peyman Forouhar: Validation, Visualisation, Project administration.