Affiliation:
1. National Institute of Public Health NIH – National Research Institute, Poland
Abstract
Polymeric building materials and equipment for indoor use in spaces intended for people may, in an essential way, contribute to deterioration of wholesome quality of life. Phthalates, present in many products, constitute an omnipresent group of com-pounds used widely as plasticizers. The research results show that these substances may have a negative impact on human health, and thus European Union has imple-mented a number of regulatory measures restricting their use. Manufacturers and suppliers must comply with these regulations. As a result, it is necessary to investi-gate and determine the contents of phthalates in these materials. This paper presents the analytic profile of method of marking phthalates extracted from polyvinyl chlo-ride with use of HPLC chromatography with UV-VIS detection, and selected re-sults obtained in examinations of materials used in interior design. The results of described examinations of phthalates content indicate that not all materials recom-mended by manufacturers may be used indoors in spaces intended for people. The method was verified for its suitability for routine analyses of materials made of PVC and submitted for attestation. The elaborated method can be used for determi-nation of banned phthalates presence in PVC. The method allows for detection of these phthalates at the level required by the REACH regulation, and its validation parameters are highly satisfactory considering a very complex matrix.