Examination of paraben release from baby teethers through migration tests and GC–MS analysis using a stable isotope dilution assay

  • Parabens and sorbic acid are commonly used as food preservatives due to their antimicrobial effect. However, their use in foods for infants and young children is not permitted in the European Union. Previous studies found these compounds in some gel-filled baby teethers, whereby parabens, which are well-known as endocrine disruptors, were identified in the polymer-based chewing surface consisting of ethylene-vinyl acetate (EVA). To assess the exposure of infants and young children to these products, the application of parabens in teethers should be thoroughly investigated. Therefore, the present study aimed to apply a representative migration test procedure combined with an accurate analytical method to examine gel-filled baby teethers without elaborate sample preparation, high costs, and long processing times. Accordingly, solid-phase extraction (SPE), in combination with a stable isotope dilution assay (SIDA) and subsequent gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS) for analysis of methyl-, ethyl-, and n-propylparaben (MeP, EtP, and n-PrP), was found to be well-suited, with recoveries ranging from 93 to 99%. The study compared the release of these parabens from intact teether surfaces into water and saliva simulant under real-life conditions, with total amounts of detected parabens found to be in the range of 101–162 µg 100 mL−1 and 57–148 µg 100 mL−1, respectively. Furthermore, as a worst-case scenario, the release into water was examined using a long-term migration study.

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Author:Theodoros Potouridis, Alena Knauz, Elisabeth Berger, Wilhelm Püttmann
URN:urn:nbn:de:hebis:30:3-508613
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1186/s13065-019-0587-6
ISSN:2661-801X
Pubmed Id:https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31384817
Parent Title (English):BMC chemistry
Publisher:Springer International Publishing
Place of publication:[Cham]
Document Type:Article
Language:English
Year of Completion:2019
Date of first Publication:2019/05/23
Publishing Institution:Universitätsbibliothek Johann Christian Senckenberg
Release Date:2019/09/02
Tag:Chemical preservatives; Ethylene-vinyl acetate (EVA); Gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS); Gel-flled baby teether; Migration study; Parabens; Solid-phase extraction (SPE); Sorbic acid; Stable isotope dilution assay (SIDA)
Volume:13
Issue:1, Art. 70
Page Number:14
First Page:1
Last Page:14
Note:
Open Access: This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.
HeBIS-PPN:453973825
Institutes:Geowissenschaften / Geographie / Geowissenschaften
Dewey Decimal Classification:5 Naturwissenschaften und Mathematik / 55 Geowissenschaften, Geologie / 550 Geowissenschaften
Sammlungen:Universitätspublikationen
Open-Access-Publikationsfonds:Geowissenschaften / Geographie
Licence (German):License LogoCreative Commons - Namensnennung 4.0