Young Children in U.S. Polluted with Flame Retardants
In the first nationwide investigation of chemical fire retardants (PBDEs) in parents and their children, researchers found that toddlers and pre-schoolers typically had 3 times more of the neurotoxic compounds in their blood as their mothers.
The study suggests that U.S. children 1 to 4 years of age bear the heaviest burden of flame retardant pollution in the industrialized world.
Laboratory tests – conducted in collaboration with Dr. Åke Bergman, a preeminent environmental chemist – found that in 19 of 20 U.S. families, concentrations of the toxic chemicals known as PBDEs were significantly higher in 1- to 4-year-old children than in their mothers.
The tests found the fire retardant Deca, banned in Europe but unregulated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, more often and in higher amounts in U.S. children than their mothers.
The average levels of PBDEs in the blood of children tested by EWG were about 62 parts per billion, compared to 25 ppb in their mothers. In the limited number of studies of this age group in other countries, Spanish, Norwegian and Australian children had levels 2 to 15 times lower. Deca is classified by the US Environmental Protection Agency as a “possible human carcinogen.”
Laboratory studies indicate it can also cause kidney, liver and thyroid damage, fetal death, and irreversible brain damage. Toxic fire retardants in everyday items like furniture, sofas, televisions and computers could expose children to concentrations exceeding the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s recommended safe level.
Children ingest more fire retardants and other toxins when they put their hands, toys and other objects 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 single dose administered to mice on a day when the brain is growing rapidly can cause permanent changes to behavior, including hyperactivity.
Even as the chemical industry insists Deca is safe, the European Union has banned it from use. Ten U.S. states are considering or have enacted legislative bans, and major electronics manufacturers including Nokia, Sony-Ericsson and Samsung no longer use Deca and are phasing-out other bromine-based fire retardants.
