Utilization of es-Bank of Ehime University for monitoring environmental pollutants in Indonesia: a case study for brominated flame retardants in biota, human and environmental samples

The concept of environmental specimen bank for archiving and retrospective analysis of biological and environmental samples has been recognized as an important component of systematic environmental monitoring and research programs. For example, well documented specimens that are preserved over long periods of time are valuable resources that can be used for future retrospective investigations and verification of previous studies that were carried out using such specimens. During the last decade, in collaboration with Ehime University, Technology Center for Marine Survey, Agency for the Assessment and Application of Technology (BPPT), Indonesia have conducted several sampling campaigns to collect various biotic and environmental samples for environmental monitoring in Indonesia, particularly for assessing the levels and risks of persistent toxic substances such as classical persistent organic pollutants (POPs) as well as emerging new contaminants such as polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) and hexabromocyclododecanes (HBCDs). Due to limited sample storage and analytical capability in the country, the samples have been preserved and archived in environmental specimen bank (es-BANK) of Ehime University for further studies including analysis of various toxic pollutants. The present report aims at overviewing the findings made through those studies on the emerging new contaminants, the brominated flame retardants (BFRs) such as PBDEs and HBCDs in the environment of Indonesia by utilizing samples that have been stored in es-BANK of Ehime University.