Atmospheric Environment 39 (2005) 801–811 Endocrine disrupting chemical emissions from combustion sources: diesel particulate emissions and domestic waste open burn emissions Sukh Sidhu a,Ã , Brian Gullett b , Richard Striebich a , Joy Klosterman a , Jesse Contreras a , Michael DeVito c a Environmental Engineering, University of Dayton, 300 College Park, Dayton, OH 45469, USA b National Risk Management Research Laboratory (E305-01), US Environmental Protection Agency, Research Triangle Park, NC 27711, USA c National Health and Environmental Effects Research Laboratory (MD-74), US Environmental Protection Agency, Research Triangle Park, NC 27711, USA Received 18 June 2003; accepted 23 October 2004 Abstract Emissions of endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) from combustion sources are poorly characterized due to the large number of compounds present in the emissions, the complexity of the analytical separations required, and the uncertainty regarding identification of chemicals with endocrine effects. In this work, multidimensional gas chromatographic-mass spectrometry (MDGC-MS) was used to characterize emissions from both controlled (diesel engine) and uncontrolled (open burning of domestic waste) combustion sources. The results of this study suggest that, by using MDGC-MS, one can resolve a much greater percentage of the chromatogram and identify about 84% of these resolved compounds. This increase in resolution helped to identify and quantify various classes of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in the combustion emissions that had not been identified previously. Significant emissions (when compared to industrial sources) of known EDCs, dioctyl phthalate (over 2,500,000 kg year 1 ) and bisphenol A (over 75,000 kg year 1 ) were estimated from uncontrolled domestic waste burning. Emissions of several suspected EDCs (oxygenated PAHs) were observed in both diesel soot and the uncontrolled domestic waste burn samples. The emission rates of known and suspected EDCs estimated in this study suggest that combustion emissions need to be characterized for EDCs to further assess its importance as a source of EDC exposure. r 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Keywords: Bisphenol A; Diesel emissions; Open barrel burning; Oxygenate PAHs; Multidimensional GC-MS 1. Introduction In recent years, several studies have been conducted to investigate the potential threat of endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) to wildlife and humans (Colborn and Clement, 1992; Colborn et al., 1993; Guillette et al., 1995). It is now known that several natural and man- made EDCs act as mimics or antagonists of endogenous hormones (Crews et al., 1995; Cummings and Metcalf, 1995; Soto et al., 1995). These concerns have led to the initiation of a significant number of in vitro and in vivo studies of the toxicology of EDCs, including the ARTICLE IN PRESS www.elsevier.com/locate/atmosenv 1352-2310/$ - see front matter r 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.atmosenv.2004.10.040 Ã Corresponding author. Tel.: +1 937 229 3605; fax: +1 937 229 2503. E-mail address: sidhu@udri.udayton.edu (S. Sidhu).