Toxic flame retardants known as PBDEs are becoming a major environmental health concern

New analysis by California EPA scientists suggests that toxic flame retardants known as PBDEs are becoming a major environmental health concern.

An analysis of persistent chemicals in the breastmilk of Pacific Northwest mothers, released today at an international scientific conference in Toronto, “Dioxin 2005,” found that levels of the toxic flame retardants PBDEs may be overtaking those of PCBs, an industrial chemical banned in the late 1970s. PBDEs, which are structurally similar to PCBs, are accumulating rapidly in humans and the environment and may present similar health threats to those of PCBs, which have been linked to developmental delays and cancer.

Thirty percent of the mothers tested in the study - which was coordinated by Seattle-based research center Northwest Environment Watch - had higher levels of PBDEs than PCBs. The breastmilk samples for the study were analyzed in the Hazardous Materials Laboratory of Cal/EPA’s Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) in Berkeley, California. The Northwest study is one of several being conducted by DTSC scientists at the Department’s Berkeley lab - including one underway involving analyses of California women’s breastmilk - indicating that levels of PBDEs in humans may be overtaking those of PCBs.

“The comparison with PCBs suggests that toxic flame retardants have emerged as a major environmental health concern,” said Clark Williams-Derry, research director for Northwest Environment Watch (NEW). “PBDEs could be as potent a problem as PCBs, which are still polluting people and the environment decades after they were banned. In order to avoid the same outcome with PBDEs, we need to act quickly.”

The PBDE data from the study was originally released by Northwest Environment Watch in 2004, but the PCB data and the comparison between the chemicals are new. NEW found that the 40 mothers in the study - who are from British Columbia, Montana, Oregon, and Washington - had levels of PBDEs 20 to 40 times higher than levels found in individuals from Europe and Japan. PBDEs are widely used as flame retardants in furniture foams, industrial textiles, and consumer electronics.

Williams-Derry emphasized that mothers should continue breastfeeding. Research shows that despite the presence of contaminants, breastfeeding is the healthiest choice. Benefits include reducing the risk of many illnesses in infants, as well as the incidence of anemia and some cancers in women. NEW chose breastmilk as a measure because it is the most convenient body fluid to obtain and study, and because it provides a good proxy for contamination levels in fetuses, pregnant and nursing women, and the general population.

Specific findings from the CAL/EPA analysis and the original NEW study include:

Some PBDE levels surpassing those of PCBs: The CAL/EPA scientists analyzed levels of 12 types of PBDEs, and 80 types of PCBs in the 40 mothers studied by NEW. Of the mothers, 13 had higher levels of PBDEs than PCBs. For the most abundant forms of the chemicals, PBDE-47 and PCB-153, the average PBDE level was higher, and 65 percent of the mothers had more PBDE-47 than PCB-153 in their breastmilk, a trend that could become more common if PBDE levels in people continue to rise.