Chemical PBDE Showing Up in Breast Milk
February 24, 2004 08:09 AM EST
SEATTLE - High levels of flame retardant chemicals called PBDEs turned up
in samples of breast milk from nine Puget Sound women who participated in a
new study by the nonprofit Northwest Environment Watch.
"This is a real health concern," said organization research director Clark
Williams-Derry. "Studies on laboratory animals suggest that PBDEs" -
polybrominated diphenyl ethers - "may impair memory, learning and have
other harmful effects on development."
A report on the study stressed that woman should continue breast-feeding
despite these concerns, however, citing benefits such as reduced risk of
illness for infants. A news release quoted Dr. MaryAnn O'Hara of Seattle, a
breast-feeding expert, as urging "swift action to get PBDEs, mercury and
other toxins out of the environment and out of our bodies."
California last summer became the first state to ban two forms of the fire
retardant compound. The European Union has also banned a third form of the
chemical, which isn't as readily absorbed by the body.
A series of studies last year showed American women have the world's
highest levels of the bromine-based fire retardants, nearing levels that
have been shown to damage learning, memory and behavior in laboratory mice.
The median PBDE concentration found in the Puget Sound breast-milk study
was 50 parts per billion, with individual levels ranging from 13 to 156
parts per billion. That compares with a median 1.3 parts per billion found
in Japanese blood samples in 2000, and a median 2.1 parts per billion found
in Swedish breast milk in 2001.
Washington state is already mobilizing to address concerns about the
chemicals, which are found in furniture foams, textiles and consumer
electronics.
PBDEs have been used in U.S. plastics for about 30 years. Use of the
compounds increased in the 1980s with increased use of flammable plastics
in products and tougher fire safety standards.
"That's really when computers started taking off," said spokeswoman Sheryl
Hutchinson with the state Department of Ecology in Olympia. "It's all
around you. It's really hard to get away from this stuff."
In January, Gov. Gary Locke directed Ecology to develop an action plan for
addressing PBDEs. He provided $50,000 and asked the Legislature for an
additional $83,000.
Whether the effort proceeds "is dependent on getting more funds out of the
Legislature this session," Hutchinson said.
The money is part of a $436,000 operating budget proposal from the governor
for phasing out persistent toxins such as PBDEs, mercury, dioxins and PCBS,
which don't readily break down in the environment and can move into the
food chain. The Legislature eliminated funding for the program last year.
Both chambers of the Legislature released their proposed budgets Monday.
The House measure would fund the $436,000 program. The Senate plans
contains only $159,000 for mercury reduction and recycling but none for
PBDEs or the overall program, said Laurie Valeriano of the Washington
Toxics Coalition.
One question Ecology will look into is how PBDEs get into the environment
and living things, Hutchinson said. "It's largely conjecture at this
point."
But generally, PBDEs don't bind with the plastics in products and
are "leaching out constantly. ... They could be breathed, they could be
ingested in food products," she said.
The department will look into how much of the compound is "simply leaching
from products and how much is from products just breaking down,"
information that will "give us a better sense of how to proceed,"
Hutchinson said.
The compound is saving lives as a fire retardant, Hutchinson said, noting
the agency will be talking to firefighters who are aware of that but
also "are breathing it."
Industry is already looking into alternatives that will be as effective at
curbing fire without the health risk. Ikea has eliminated PBDEs from its
products, and "Intel no longer uses it in computer parts it makes,"
Hutchinson noted.
Williams-Derry suggested design changes, such as switching to plastics that
aren't so combustible.
Some scientists believe flame retardants may become as ubiquitous in the
marine environment as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), a hazardous
compound once widely used in industrial coolants and lubricants that has
been banned in the United States since the 1970s.
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