Los Angeles, June 22--Toxic flame retardants, which are building up at a rapid pace in people’s bodies throughout the United States and Canada, are being spread by an array of store-bought foods as well as dust inside homes and offices, scientists have discovered, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Three new studies, released at an international conference this month, detected for the first time high concentrations of the flame retardants in a variety of fish, meat and fowl in the United States.
The findings, combined with other new tests that found the chemicals in household dust and on computer keyboards, have convinced environmental scientists that exposure to them is unavoidable.
“There is more or less a continuous exposure, and there is absolutely no way to really control it. You have almost a 24-hour exposure, except for the time you are outside,” said Aake Bergman, chair of environmental chemistry at Sweden’s Stockholm University and a leading authority on the flame retardants.
Created by chemical companies to make hard plastic and polyurethane foam less flammable, polybrominated diphenyl ethers, or PBDEs, are added to computers, TVs, furniture cushions, upholstery textiles, carpet backings, mattresses, cars, buses and aircraft, and construction materials.
California has banned two types of the flame retardants effective in 2008, and the manufacturer has agreed to stop producing them by the end of this year.
For the last year, scientists have been struggling to figure out how people are exposed, particularly in the United States, where human bodies carry 20 times more on average than in Europe and other areas.
Toxicologists are mystified by the high levels in some Americans, saying there are no obvious patterns to explain the phenomenon. People are exposed to other well-known chemicals, such as PCBs and mercury, almost entirely through the food web, especially fish. But while some fish have high concentrations of PBDE, people who eat a lot of fish are not necessarily among the most highly contaminated.
Scientists have yet to prove whether food or dust is the major source, or what, if anything, people can do to reduce their risk.
