Validation of a Rapid Screening Method for Textile Additives with Applications to Firefighter Station Wear

Firefighters have previously received attention for their occupational exposure to numerous chemicals of concern through their turnout gear, aqueous film-forming foam, and fire events. However, their station wear, uniforms worn daily in the station, has not yet been investigated for textile additives of concern. In this study, 57 firefighter station wear uniforms were screened using the paired method of particle-induced gamma-ray emission (PIGE) and particle-induced X-ray emission (PIXE) spectroscopies to estimate concentrations of 21 elements between F and Pb. As this is the first instance of quantifying elements in textiles using PIXE, validation of PIXE results was conducted using inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectroscopy (ICP-OES), ultrahigh-performance liquid chromatography coupled to high-resolution tandem mass spectrometry (UHPLC-HRMS/MS), and gas chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (GC-MS/MS). These analyses detected elevated concentrations of Cl, Zn, Cr, and/or Sb in numerous station-wear samples. Additionally, targeted liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) for 31 per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) was performed on a subset of samples. Together, these results demonstrate the effectiveness of PIGE/PIXE for screening textiles and highlight the concerning presence of PFAS, flame retardants, and halogenated azobenzene disperse dyes in some station-wear uniforms.