Introduction
Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) are a group of chemicals
that are widely used as fire retardants. They are found
in electronics, electrical cables, carpets, furniture, and
textiles. A type of PBDEs, called Deca, is the most widely
used, followed by Penta and Octa PBDEs.(1)
Of these three types, Penta PBDEs, the type most easily
absorbed into living organisms(1),
are the most common in the U.S., and Americans are likely
to come in contact with them dozens of times a day.(2)
PBDEs are effective flame retardants because they release
bromine at high temperatures. The bromine then interferes
with the chemical reactions that drive oxygen dependent
fires.(3) They are mixed into
products as they are manufactured, but do not bind with
the plastic or foam they protect. Because of this, they
continuosly leach out of the consumer goods in which they
are used.(3) PBDEs tend to accumulate
in fats and are resistant to physical, chemical, and biological
degredation, which causes them to be highly persistant in
the environment and to accumulate in the bodies of organisms
that are exposed to them.(3)
PBDEs are now found around the world in dust, air, water,
and sediments. They have also been found in the tissues
of whales, seals, birds and bird eggs, moose, reindeer,
mussels, eels, and dozens of species of freshwater and marine
fish.(2)(4)
While PBDEs are chemically similar to PCBs(5),
they have not been as well studied.(3)
There are indications, however, that PBDEs may be just as
dangerous to human health and the environment as PCBs. PCBs
were banned years ago due to their negative health effects
on humans, including immune suppression, altered sexual
development, cancer, delayed brain development, lower IQ,
and behavioral problems like hyperactivity.(6)
One concern is the rapidly increasing concentration of PBDEs
worldwide(5), which is doubling
every two to five years.(1) They
have been found in tissue, blood, and breast milk of women
worldwide. The concentrations currently found in tissues
of American women are the highest ever reported.(1)(7)
Based on the scientific literature to date, there are
a number of potential negative health effects of PBDEs.(8)
These include thyroid hormone disruption, permanent neural
damage, behavioral changes, loss of hearing, delayed onset
of puberty, decreased sperm count, birth defects, and possibly
cancer.(9)(10) PBDEs can interfere
with and potentially disrupt the human thyroid hormone system(11),
and exposure to PBDEs can produce physical changes in the
thyroid gland.(9) Decreases in
thyroid hormone levels, which PBDEs can cause, interfere
with normal brain development in babies and young children,
and can have negative health impacts for adults, including
fatigue, depression, anxiety, unexplained weight gain, hair
loss, and low libido.(10) Studies
of mice exposed to PBDEs show that exposure can change behavioral
patterns(12) and impair the development
of the nervous system, causing learning and movement problems
which get worse over time, even if the exposure to PBDEs
ends.(13)(14)
Other studies indicate that PBDEs can have a greater negative
impact when the exposure occurs early in the animals development,
suggesting that human fetuses and babies are most at risk.(14)(15)
PBDEs may also be human carcinogens, according to the U.S.
National Toxicology Program.(16)
PBDEs have been linked to non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in
humans, a variety of cancers in rodents(17),
and may stimulate the growth of breast cancer cells.(18)
Studies have indicated that just one exposure to PBDEs can
have harmful health effects, and that the levels that can
cause harm are already present in many humans.(10)
Because PBDEs have not been well studied, we have no idea
what level of exposure is safe for humans, but our current
levels of exposure could already be putting us at risk.
Regulatory Activity
The European Union has banned the use of several types
of PBDEs, and Japan instituted a voluntary phase out.(19)
California passed a statewide ban on the use of Penta and
Octa PBDEs, effective 2008, and several other states have
introduced bills that would regulate PBDEs. They are not
currently regulated by the U.S. government(20),
but the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has been working
with U.S.-based PBDE manufacturers on a voluntary phase
out plan. Most brominated fire retardants used in North
America are made by two companies, Great Lakes Chemical
Corp. of West Lafayette, Indiana, and Albemarle Corp. of
Richmond, Virginia.(10) Great
Lakes Chemical has agreed to stop production of Penta and
Octa PBDEs before 2005 and replace them with other products
which appear to be safer.(21)
Many companies have already found affordable, effective
substitutes to using PBDEs as flame retardants, including
redesigning their products to separate heat sources from
flammable components, using materials that are inherently
flame retardant, and finding less toxic chemical flame retardants.
Many companies, including IKEA, Intel, Sony, Phillips Consumer
Electronics, Toshiba, Motorola, and Apple, have decreased
or discontinued their use of PBDEs.
PBDEs are a potentially very serious health risk because
of their ubiquity and their tendency to accumulate in the
human body. It is clear that we are already exposed to high
levels of PBDEs, do not know what level of exposure is safe,
and that children are at a higher risk from PBDEs than adults.
Because safer, commercially viable alternatives are available,
it only makes sense to stop using PBDEs.
Passed Legislation
California
AB
302 prohibits, on and after January 1, 2008, a person
from manufacturing, processing, or distributing in commerce
a product containing more than 1/10 of 1% pentaBDE or octaBDE,
by mass. The bill requires that the Senate Office of Research
submit to the President Pro Tempore of the Senate and the
Senate Environmental Quality Committee recommendations regarding
the regulation of polybrominated diphenyl ether. (8/11/2003
Chaptered. Chapter No. 205)
Introduced Legislation
Massachusetts
H 2275/S
1268 relate to alternatives to the use of toxic chemicals.
PBDEs are included on the list of chemicals to be phased
out.
(9/18/2003 In Joint Committee on Natural Resources and Agriculture:
Heard. Eligible for Executive Session.)
Michigan
HB
4406 regulates release of polybrominated diphenyl ethers
(PBDEs).
(3/19/2003 to House Committee on Land Use and Environment.)
HB
4407 provides sentencing guidelines for the crime of
releasing polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) into the
environment.
(3/19/2003 to House Committee on Criminal Justice.)
New York
S 5712 provides for the restriction of certain brominated
flame retardant chemicals in the manufacture, process, and
sale of electronics, furniture, and textiles.
(8/20/2003 to Senate Committee on Rules.)
A 9207 prohibits the manufacture or sale of products containing
certain flame retardant chemicals; prohibits any person
from manufacturing, selling or offering for sale, transporting
or causing to be transported in commerce or for the purpose
of sale or delivery after sale in commerce any product or
a flame retarded part of a product which contains more than
one-tenth of one percent of pentaBDE, octaBDE, or decaBDE
by mass.
(10/31/2003 to Assembly Committee on Economic Development,
Job Creation, Commerce and Industry.)
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