FLAME RETARDANTS
We send out this short piece on flame retardants to explain why
they are dangerous, where they are in our environment, and why
Environment and Human Health, Inc. is working on a project to change
the policy to better protect the public's health from exposures to
them. "In 1977, The U.S. Consumer Product
Safety Commission (CPSC) announced the ban of children's pajamas
containing the flame-retardant commonly known as Tris because it was
carcinogenic. The pajama use of Tris was banned - but
unbelievably, it is still being used today in baby products such
as nursing pillows, car-seats, crib mattresses, high-chairs, etc."
Flame retardants have become ubiquitous in our
environment.
Nancy Alderman, President, Environment and Human Health, Inc. http://www.ehhi.org http://ehhijournal.org
1191 Ridge Road, North Haven, CT 06473 (phone) 203-248-6582
Recent research suggests that
chemicals used as flame-retardants are rapidly building up in the
bodies of people and wildlife around the world. The concentrations of
these chemicals in tissues appear to be approaching levels in American
women that could harm the developing nervous systems of fetuses,
infants and children.
In the United States there has
been no action to regulate flame-retardants in a way that would
protect human health, and instead their use continues to rise. About
half of the 135 million pounds of flame-retardants used worldwide in
2001 were applied to products in North America.
Scientists who specialize in
human tissue body burdens say that they haven't seen a chemical build
up in human bodies and the environment as quickly as that of some
flame-retardants in almost half a century. The flame-retardants are as
potent and long lasting as PCB's and DDT- chemicals that began to
accumulate in the environment and human tissues in the 1950's and were
banned in the 1970's. Even if many flame-retardants were banned
today, they would endure in the environment for decades.
In 1977, The U.S. Consumer Product
Safety Commission (CPSC) announced the ban of children's clothing
containing the flame-retardant commonly known as Tris because it was
carcinogenic. The pajama use of Tris was banned - but
unbelievably, it is still being used today in baby products that are
made with polyurethane foam - such as nursing pillows, car-seats, crib
mattresses, high-chairs, etc. To be exposing our smallest children is
truly outrageous..
Animal studies have shown that
flame-retardants affect thyroid hormone functions and can impair the
developing central nervous system and brain. In 1999, Swedish
researchers discovered much greater amounts in human breast milk than
had been detected twenty-five years earlier. Subsequent studies have
found an even sharper rise in U.S. women, leading some researchers to
conclude that flame retardants levels in North Americans are 10 to 20
times higher than in Europeans and are doubling at a rate of every
four to six years. This has raised concern among many scientists and
environmental health advocates.
Flame-retardants can cross the
placenta, exposing the fetus. Infants are also exposed to
flame-retardants through breast milk. Children take in
flame-retardants from many sources and these will persist in their
bodies though adulthood.
Researchers say the effects on
children are likely to be subtle - not mental retardation or
disability, but measurable changes in children's intelligence, memory
hyperactivity and hearing. "We're concerned about learning and
memory and some behavioral effects and hearing loss," Birnbaum
said.
Dr. Linda Birnbaum, the EPA's
director of toxicology, said, "there is no question that the
chemicals are altering thyroid hormones. Altering thyroid hormones
during fetal development can affect how the brain
functions."
What disturbs scientists the
most are that some flame-retardants have striking similarities to
PCB's which were widely used as insulating fluids in electrical
transformers until they were banned in the 1970's because they were
collecting in the tissues of people and wildlife.
