Your Couch and Computer May Be Poisoning You

By J.R. Pegg

WASHINGTON, DC, February 19, 2004 (ENS) - There is growing concern about the adverse health impacts from the use of polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), which are added to plastics, electronics, upholstery textiles, and construction materials as components of a common fire retardant. Scientists have linked the chemicals to neurological damage and have found them in the breast milk of American women at levels higher than anywhere else in the world.

PBDEs - developed in the 1960s - are extremely persistent and accumulate in the body, much like mercury, lead and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs).

How the chemicals get into the environment is still uncertain, but PBDEs are being found worldwide in house dust, indoor and outdoor air as well as in the water and sediments of rivers, estuaries and oceans.

Last year the state of California passed a law to phase out two types of PBDEs - penta and octa - by 2008, but the federal government has been slow to regulate the chemicals.

In November 2003, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) brokered a deal with manufacturer Great Lakes Chemical to voluntarily end production and sale of these two PBDEs.

Brominated flame retardants are found in upholstery and furniture foam cushions. (Photo credit unknown)

The EPA said it will work with the other U.S. manufacturers of octa to seek their support for a complete phase out, but added that it has not concluded that PBDEs pose an unreasonable risk to human health or the environment.

In announcing the deal last year, the agency said it does not believe that there is a need to remove or replace products that may contain PBDEs.

But environmentalists and public health advocates say aggressive action is warranted, in particular in light of new evidence about the adverse health impacts from a third type of PBDE - known as decabrominated diphenyl ether (deca).

Deca is the most heavily used of the PBDEs - it is added to televisions, stereos, computers, hair dryers, toasters, draperies, and upholstery fabrics.

Computers and accessories contain brominated flame retardants. (Photo credit unknown)

But several recent studies summarized in a new report from the U.S. Public Interest Research Group suggest strict action on deca is necessary.

"The latest science clearly points to the need for a federal ban of deca and other toxic flame retardants," said the report's coauthor Meghan Purvis.

Researchers have found that deca - although less easily absorbed by the body than other PBDEs - breaks down under sunlight and during metabolic processes into chemical components of penta.

Deca escapes into the environment because it is not chemically bound products to which it is added. Within the home, Deca has been found in household dust and as a film coating the surfaces of windows. It also escapes from products in landfills to spread through air and water.

Scientists have found deca in human blood and breast milk in the bodies of electronics workers as well as in people who had not been exposed in the workplace.

One recent study of American women's breast milk found levels of deca in 16 of 20 women tested, and a study from the University of Texas found a maximum level of Deca 40 times higher than industry's estimated maximum body burden for women who disassemble deca-containing computers for a living.

Brominated flame retardants in landfilled computer junk emit pollutants into the air and water. (Photo courtesy Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition)

The 1976 Toxic Substances Control Act gave the EPA authority to ban chemicals, but must take on such a great burden for action that they have not banned a chemical since PCBs were banned in 1976.

As a result, chemicals like deca can be on the market for decades before their threat to human health is discovered because national policy presumes chemicals are safe until proven beyond a doubt to cause harm.

"Mothers and their children should not be involuntary test subjects for the effects of Deca and other toxic chemicals," Purvis said. "We cannot continue to expose children or adults to harmful chemicals like deca while we wait for health impacts to develop. Harmful chemicals should not be placed on the market in the first place."

But industry groups note that a recent risk assessment by the European Union found little public health risk from deca and argue forcing a switch to other flame retardants could result in the use of a less proven and potentially more harmful chemical.

Purvis says there are safe alternatives to deca and the other PBDEs that meet fire safety standards.

She noted that Ericsson, a global manufacturer of cell phones and other electronics, has banned deca and other PBDEs from its products and applications and found replacements at comparable cost.

The European Union has banned the use of all PBDEs in consumer electronics beginning in mid-2006.