A University of Toronto environmental chemistry lab is combining product analysis, indoor sampling, and public outreach to identify how chemicals in common consumer goods move into the environments where people live.
Miriam Diamond, a professor of Earth sciences, has investigated chemical exposure from products including children’s mattresses, school uniforms, cosmetics, fast-food packaging, electronics, and clothing. Her research focuses on how substances such as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, flame retardants, plasticizers, and microplastics enter indoor air and dust and create potential exposure pathways.
Diamond’s work initially focused on how contaminants such as arsenic and mercury move through outdoor ecosystems. She later shifted her attention indoors, where her team began examining people as active participants in chemical transport. Movement, pressure, heat, and contact can influence how compounds leave products and enter surrounding air or dust.
Testing chemicals released by mattresses
Recent studies from Diamond’s group examined chemicals released by children’s mattresses. Researchers analyzed 16 new mattresses for 45 semivolatile organic compounds and detected 21 substances across four chemical classes: ortho-phthalates, organophosphate esters, benzophenones, and salicylates. The team also tested emissions under conditions intended to simulate the warmth and pressure generated by a sleeping child.
A companion field study used passive silicone samplers in the bedrooms of 25 children between six months and four years old. Researchers placed samplers both in the room and near the sleeping surface. The results showed higher concentrations of several targeted compounds near the mattresses than elsewhere in the bedrooms, supporting the conclusion that mattresses contributed to the measured chemicals in the sleeping zone. The studies did not measure chemicals in the children’s blood or urine and, therefore, did not directly assess individual health effects.
Moving laboratory findings beyond the bench
Beyond mattresses, Diamond’s laboratory has tested textiles, cosmetics, food packaging, jewelry, and clothing. Earlier work found PFAS in children’s school uniforms and Canadian fast-food packaging. Testing conducted with CBC Marketplace also identified cadmium in children’s jewelry and lead and PFAS in some fast-fashion products, findings that contributed to regulatory scrutiny and product removals in Canada.
Diamond argues that laboratory evidence alone does not automatically produce policy change. Her group pairs analytical research with communication to regulators, journalists, manufacturers, and the public. She has also served on Canadian and international chemical-management advisory groups.
For laboratory leaders, the research program offers an example of how study design can connect controlled product testing with real-world environmental sampling. It also demonstrates the importance of clearly defining what analytical results establish, what they do not establish, and how laboratories can communicate findings to decision-makers without overstating their conclusions.
This article was created with the assistance of Generative AI and has undergone editorial review before publishing.
