Exposure assessment of phthalates in French pregnant women : Results of ELFE pilot study
Résumé
Phthalates are known reproductive and developmental toxicants in animal studies which suggest that such effects could occur for humans. There are few data on exposure of pregnant women, although pregnancy is a key period relative to developmental toxicity. This study reports the first assessment of exposure to phthalates in the French pregnant population. Several phthalates metabolites (MEP, 5OH-MEHP, 5oxo-MEHP, 5cx-MEHP, 2cx-MEHP, MEHP, MnBP, MiBP, MiNP, 7oxo-Summe-MeOP, 7OH-MeOP, 7cx-MeOP, MBzBP, MnOP, MCPP, MCHP) were measured in 279 urine samples of pregnant women from ELFE pilot study. The purpose of the ELFE (Étude Longitudinale Française depuis l'Enfance) project is to build a nationally representative cohort of 20,000 children to be followed from birth to adulthood using a multidisciplinary approach in order to characterise the relationship between environmental exposures and the socio-economic context on health and behaviours more thoroughly. A pilot study was carried out to validate the data collection methods in October 2007 in Seine Saint Denis county and Rhône Alpes region. The measured concentrations in urine of most of the metabolites were similar to other European or American studies on pregnant women. Calculations of the daily intake using the urinary concentrations were performed for the DEP, DEHP, DnBP, DiBP and showed that median exposure is below RfD (US EPA, 2007) and TDI values (EFSA, 2005) . A simple kinetics model was used to better characterize the exposure to DEHP.