Fire Retardants in Mom's and Children's Blood

September 5, 2008 by Evelyn Vincent

The Environmental Working Group (EWG) has found a fire retardant chemical used in electronics, toys, and furniture in children’s blood at triple the levels found in their mothers. The EWG is a Washington, D.C. based nonprofit group that studies environmental toxins.

It conducted a pilot study of 20 families, taking blood samples from mothers and young children up to the age of four. They were looking for PBDEs or polybrominated diphenyl ethers, a hormone-disrupting pollutant that builds up in the body...

In the first investigation of toxic fire retardants in parents and their children, Environmental Working Group (EWG) found that toddlers and preschoolers typically had 3 times as much of these hormone-disrupting chemicals in their blood as their mothers.

Laboratory tests – conducted for EWG by one of the world’s leading scientific authorities on fire retardants – found that in 19 of 20 U.S. families, concentrations of the chemicals known as PBDEs were significantly higher in 1.5- to 4-year-old children than their mothers. In total, 11 different flame retardants were found in these children, and 86 percent of the time the chemicals were present at higher levels in the children than their mothers.

The tests also found a form of PBDEs known as Deca, a heavily used flame retardant that has largely escaped restrictions because few labs can reliably test for it. The tests showed Deca more often and in higher concentrations on average in children than their mothers. These high exposures early in life point to a previously undocumented, serious, and disproportionate risk to young children.

Eight of the 20 mothers tested were also part of earlier EWG studies that found high levels of PBDEs in human breast milk and household dust. EWG tests of umbilical cord blood also found PBDEs in 10 of 10 newborns. The current study is the first to show that U.S. children have much higher levels of PBDEs in their blood than their parents and in fact bear some of the heaviest burdens of flame retardant pollution in the industrialized world.

PBDEs in everyday items like furniture, computers, televisions and other electronics migrate into the home environment and could expose children to concentrations exceeding the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s recommended safe level. Children ingest more PBDEs than adults because they stick to kids’ hands, toys or other objects they put in their mouths.

Children’s developing brains and reproductive systems are extraordinarily vulnerable to toxic chemicals. In the case of PBDEs, laboratory tests in peer-reviewed studies have found that a dose administered to mice on a single day when the brain is growing rapidly can cause permanent changes to behavior, including hyperactivity. Children's bodies may not metabolize and excrete toxic chemicals as readily as adults.

PBDEs, or polybrominated diphenyl ethers, are global pollutants that build up in the blood and tissues of people and other living things. Two forms of PBDEs known as Penta and Octa are no longer made in the U.S. because of health and safety concerns, but are still found in furniture and foam items made before the phase-out was complete. The largest volume of PBDEs are used in electronics in a form known as Deca. Deca is banned in European electronics and in some U.S. states.

The chemical industry is waging a high-stakes effort to keep Deca on the market, claiming it poses no health risk. But EWG’s tests show that Deca enters people’s bodies, and is polluting children’s blood at much higher levels than adults’. Deca was detected in 65 percent of children and 45 percent of adults.

Even as the chemical industry insists Deca is safe, manufacturers are moving away from the use of all chemical fire retardants and have found they can achieve fire safety through smarter product design. Major electronics manufacturers including Nokia, Sony-Ericsson and Samsung no longer use Deca and are phasing out other bromine-based fire retardants.

Despite the evidence that PBDEs are harmful, that they pollute people’s blood, and that safer alternatives are available, the EPA has done little to address children’s ongoing exposure. Deca remains widely used, and a regulatory loophole allows Penta, one of the PBDEs banned earlier, to enter the U.S. in imported furniture. Until Deca is banned in all consumer products, Penta is banned from imports, and fire safety regulations are revised to promote non-chemical solutions, American families – and especially their children – will continue to be needlessly exposed to these harmful compounds.

Just how toxic flame retardants are remains a mystery. But in studies on mice, when given a single dose of PBDEs in a single day, saw changes in their growing brains that can cause permanent behavior changes including hyperactivity.

The American Academy of Pediatrics has a committee on environmental health, was not involved in the study, but is aware of the reports of brain damage and hyperactivity in children as well as changes in the reproductive and hormone systems.

In the report, the group found that 19 out of 20 times, the toddlers had three times the concentration of 11 different flame retardants than their mothers. One child had six times the level of the chemical.

"To us, this raises concerns that kids live very differently in the same environment than their parents do and those kid-like behaviors put them at risk for contaminant exposure," said Sonya Lunder, the study author said in a telephone interview to Reuters.

Jimmy Roberts of the AAP told USA Today, “The government should really look into taking greater steps to protecting our kids.”

Two forms of PBDEs (Penta and Octa) are not longer made in the U.S., but can be found in furniture imported to the U.S.

Linda Birnbaum of the EPA says the children are especially vulnerable because they are exposed through breast milk and dust often highly contaminated with flame retardants. And their exposure occurs at a time when they are developing.

The National Toxicology Program reports that there are 80,000 chemicals in circulation in our environment and 2,000 new ones approved annually with minimal oversight on the impact on human health.

The Precautionary Principle is an attitude toward toxins that dictates asking more questions and adopting a guilty until proven innocent approach, similar to the European Union.

Common Items where PBDEs can be found:

* Mattresses used as flame retardants
* Remote controls, computers and televisions
* Foam used for furniture, under carpets
* Power strips and routers
* Entertainment systems
* Child car seats
* Curtains and drapes, water heaters, lamp sockets
* Mobile phones, fax machines
* Children’s pajamas

The largest amount of PBDE may come from electronics in a form called Deca, which is banned from use in European electronics. EWG reports it has largely escaped restrictions in the U.S. because few labs can test for it.

But Deca may come in contact with children because of behaviors such as touching furniture or appliances that contain PBDEs and eating and drinking more from containers that contain these chemicals. PBDE is also found in fish, meat and dairy.

How to Reduce Your Exposure to PBDEs

• Inspect all foam items for ripped covers or misshapen foam, including car seats, pillows, couches and mattresses.

• Clean up with a HEPA-filter vaccuum to remove contaminants from your home.

• Wash your hands often, and keep kid’s hands clean to reduce exposure.

• Avoid products with brominated fire retardants, including “natural” or latex foam. Ask which type of fire retardants are used in products that you purchase.

• Use caution when removing old carpet. Close off the work area from the rest of the house, and vaccuum with a HEPA-filter afterwards.

• Avoid PBDEs in new electronics. * Use your purchasing power! When purchasing new products look for these brands, which have publicly committed to phasing out all brominated fire retardants: Acer, Apple, Eizo Nanao, LG Electronics, Lenovo, Matsushita, Microsoft, Nokia, Phillips, Samsung, Sharp, Sony-Ericsson, and Toshiba are phasing out bromine-based fire retardants.

One participant said:

"It was bad enough to know our levels were high, but it was a shock when we had our furniture tested and found out that the worst culprit was the glider chair that I’d bought to nurse my daughter in when she was a baby. I can’t believe it was legal to sell furniture that is essentially poisoning you without you knowing it."

Kristi & Stella:

"I chose not to learn the results of our tests because that would only lead to one thing – increased anxiety on my part. Instead, I chose to direct my energy on insisting that the government enact real protection for our children and ourselves. The burden of responsibility should not fall on my daughter's small shoulders, but on those of the manufacturers and legislators who have the power to protect her, and all of us."

Participant Katrina Alcorn said:

"At first it was upsetting to know that Ruby had fairly high levels of PBDEs in her body. But it becomes even more upsetting when you think about the implications for all our children. There's nothing about our lifestyle that would put us at risk. If our levels are high, then yours probably are, too."

This story alone is enough to set us into action -  to be much more mindful about what we're doing, what we're buying, and what we're allowing companies to manufacture for us and our kids. If this isn't bad enough, imagine what it's doing to the creatures of the earth! This kind of thing makes me wonder if we even have the remotest idea of what we're doing to ourselves and nature... and this isn't even one of the worst things we do and allow. 

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