Development of a house dust standard reference material for the determination of organic contaminants

National-level health survey studies, such as the National Human Exposure Assessment Survey field program, have targeted the determination of organic contaminants in house dust in an effort to characterize human exposure in the domestic environment. As the effort to further understand human health effects in relation to organic contaminants associated with indoor dust accelerates, the need for an indoor dust Standard Reference Material (SRM) that is characterized for organic contaminants has become critical. To meet this need, a new organic contaminant house dust SRM has been developed. SRM 2585 Organic Contaminants in House Dust is intended for use in evaluating analytical methods for the determination of selected polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) congeners, chlorinated pesticides, and polybrominated diphenyl ether (PBDE) congeners in house dust and similar matrices. The material may also be useful for evaluation and comparison of methods or instruments used for sampling in the indoor environment. Moreover, because of the material's extensive characterization (140 organic contaminant concentrations), the material may be useful in toxicity studies related to indoor air (in vitro or in vivo). The determination of the concentrations of PAHs (including alkyl-PAHs and PAHs with molecular mass 300 and 302), PCBs, and chlorinated pesticides is reported here, and these results are compared to values reported in the literature for house dust.