Cleaning your car may not protect you from this carcinogen, study finds


Date:
January 26, 2022
Source:
University of California - Riverside
Summary:
It is unlikely that a cancer-causing chemical inside your car,
TDCIPP, can be dusted or wiped way, according to new research.



FULL STORY ==========================================================================
It is unlikely that a cancer-causing chemical inside your car can be
dusted or wiped way, according to new UC Riverside research.


==========================================================================
This finding has now been published in the journal Environmental
Research. It follows on the heels of a related study showing the longer
your commute, the more you're exposed to this chemical.

TDCIPP, or chlorinated tris, is a chemical flame retardant widely used in automobile seat foam. In addition to TDCIPP being on California's Prop. 65
list because it is carcinogenic, UCR environmental toxicologist David
Volz has found that TDCIPP prevents zebrafish embryos from developing
normally. Other studies have associated it with infertility in certain
women.

Some research suggests that dust removal could lead to lower exposure to chemicals. Volz and his colleagues hoped that was true for car interiors.

The researchers divided nearly 50 study participants, all of them heavy commuters, into four groups they tracked for two weeks. One group did
not wipe dust in their cars at all, another wiped the dust both weeks,
and two other groups wiped for only one of the two weeks.

All participants were given silicone wristbands to wear continuously
during the two-week testing period. The molecular structure of silicone
makes it ideal for capturing airborne contaminants such as TDCIPP.

"Going into this, our hypothesis was that the no-wipe group would have
the highest concentration, the two-week wipe group would be lower, and
the partial wipe groups would be somewhere in between," Volz said. "But
what we found was that there was basically no difference between any
of the groups." Previously, the researchers assumed that commuters'
primary exposure to TDCIPP is through contaminated dust. One possible explanation for this study's result, Volz said, was the possibility that
TDCIPP is not coming from dust that can be cleaned. Instead, it could
have moved directly from car seats into wristbands in gas or aerosol form.

"This result suggests dust may not be the primary route of exposure,"
Volz said. "Dust is definitely something compounds like TDCIPP attach
to, however, we can't rule out that people are just inhaling airborne compounds." Another possibility is that the flame retardant is coming
in through the air vents from outside, but the researchers do not think
this scenario is likely.

Until there is more data, Volz has a suggestion for concerned readers.

"Outside of a major policy change that replaces TDCIPP with something
else, it might not hurt to wear a mask in your car," Volz said. "Just like wearing a mask mitigates COVID-19 transmission, so too would aerosol-phase flame retardants be mitigated. N95s are probably best for this purpose." ========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by
University_of_California_-_Riverside. Original written by Jules
Bernstein. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Aalekhya Reddam, Nicholas Herkert, Heather M. Stapleton, David
C. Volz.

Partial dust removal in vehicles does not mitigate human exposure
to organophosphate esters. Environmental Research, 2022; 205:
112525 DOI: 10.1016/j.envres.2021.112525 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/01/220126090505.htm

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