Silicone in wristbands absorbs chemicals. Researchers used modified ones totest people's exposure to 1,200 substances, such as flam...
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| Silicone in wristbands absorbs chemicals. Researchers used modified ones totest people's exposure to 1,200 substances, such as flame retardants and cigarette smoke. |
Researchers
at Oregon State University outfitted volunteers with slightly modified
silicone bracelets and then tested them for 1,200 substances. They
detected several dozen compounds – everything from caffeine and
cigarette smoke to flame retardants and pesticides.
“We were surprised at the breadth of chemicals,” said Kim Anderson, a professor and chemist who was senior author of the study published in Environmental Science & Technology.
Beginning
with Lance Armstrong’s Livestrong, the cheap, colorful, rubbery
wristbands have been a popular fad over the past decade in promoting
charities and other affiliations.
Anderson
initially tried to use silicone pendants attached to necklaces to test
for contaminants. But then, at a football game she saw “all kinds of
people, even burly men” sporting wristbands. That’s when the idea hit
her.
“This
study offers some real possibilities to address the weak link in
epidemiological studies – which is the exposure science,” said Ted
Schettler, science director at the Science and Environmental Health
Network, a nonprofit environmental health advocacy organization.
The
bracelets “can identify both chemicals and mixtures, and this could
easily be applied to larger groups to see which compounds are showing up
most commonly,” he said.
Thirty
volunteers wore the orange and white Oregon State wristbands for 30
days. Forty-nine compounds were found in them, including flame
retardants, indoor pesticides such as pet flea medications, caffeine,
nicotine and various chemicals used in cosmetics and fragrances.
In
addition, eight volunteers who worked as roofers wore the wristbands
for eight hours. The researchers were looking for polycyclic aromatic
hydrocarbons (PAHs), which are in roofing tar. All of the roofers’
wristbands had the compounds, including 12 on a federal priority list of
harmful pollutants. As expected, roofers who wore less protection and
worked in more enclosed spaces had higher levels of the chemicals on
their wristbands, Anderson said.
Before outfitting the volunteers, the researchers had to remove chemicals that are introduced into silicone during manufacture.
Anderson
said the bracelets are a big step up from stationary air monitors,
which only capture a snapshot in time and may not be near people.
Measuring individuals’ exposures usually means monitors worn in
backpacks, which are difficult to use and expensive.
The
bracelets are first screened to see which chemicals are there, and then
the researchers can measure concentrations of specific ones. The
wristbands won’t detect some particulate matter, and it’s unclear if
they will pick up some of the more volatile pesticides.
Emily
Marquez, a staff scientist with the advocacy group Pesticide Action
Network, said the potential to use a wristband to quantify exposure to
tens of thousands of compounds is exciting.
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