Issues > May/June 2005 (#108) > Learning Hazards: Toxic Fire Retardants And How To Avoid Them In Consumer Products And Food - The Executive Summary

Learning Hazards: Toxic Fire Retardants And How To Avoid Them In Consumer Products And Food - The Executive Summary

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Current total PBDE levels in the blood of U.S. residents are the highest reported worldwide to date, ranging from 40 to 70 times higher than levels found in residents of Germany, Sweden and the Netherlands, where two types of PBDEs have been phased out since the mid-1990s. Sweden has seen a decrease in PBDE levels since 1998, suggesting that their phaseout has been effective. A European Union ban of most varieties of PBDEs went into effect in 2004. A 2005 study by Arnold Schecter, M.D., M.P.H., a professor of environmental sciences at the University of Texas School of Public Health, shows that, in some cases, blood levels of PBDEs in Americans have surpassed the levels of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), which are known to harm the developing brain and nervous system in humans and have been banned in the U.S. since 1978. In animal studies, PBDEs have produced effects similar to the effects of PCBs, and the two chemicals are similar in structure as well.

Because PBDEs also cross the placenta, some scientists fear that, as has happened with PCBs, maternal levels of PBDEs may result in children's delayed development, including learning and behavioral problems. For this reason, women may want to reduce their exposures so as not to pass these chemicals on to their children. "It's in utero exposures that are the biggest concern," says Linda Birnbaum, Ph.D., director of the Environmental Protection Agency's Experimental Toxicology Division, noting that it is from exposures during periods of rapid fetal development that rats show the worst effects of PBDEs.

It is important to emphasize that despite the presence of chemicals in breast milk, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends that women continue to breast-feed for at least the first year of their children's lives. Not only does breast-feeding protect against a host of health problems, from ear infections to allergies and learning difficulties, but it also may mitigate harm done from exposures in the womb, according to Alexander Cattaneo, Ph.D., of the Italian Institute of Child Health. "Babies who nurse do better than babies who don't nurse," Dr. Birnbaum says.

How PBDEs Enter the Environment and Our Bodies

PBDEs are persistent organic pollutants (POPs) that rapidly and widely disperse and persist in the environment. Many studies have indicated that because PBDEs are not bound to molecules of plastic or foam, they readily migrate out of crumbling foam furniture or plastic computer casings into house dust. Dust wiped from inside computers has shown PBDE levels from 77 to over 1,500 nanograms per 100 square centimeters (a nanogram is a billionth of a gram). Dr. Schecter this year has found PBDEs in household dust at 1,000 times greater levels than he has found in his studies of supermarket food. The behavior of young children, who crawl on the floor and constantly put their hands and other items in their mouths, may place them at greater risk from PBDEs, says Philip J. Landrigan, M.D., director of the Center for Children's Health and the Environment at Mount Sinai School of Medicine.

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