For
the past three decades, one class of chemicals known as brominated flame
retardants has been added to products ranging from furniture foam to upholstery
fabric to the housings of televisions and other electronics. The use of
brominated flame retardants, which contain the toxic chemical element bromine,
has created some unanticipated problems.
In
the emerging case of the polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), these problems
are becoming all too clear. PBDEs have now spread around the world and are
steadily accumulating in the tissues of human beings and other animals.
Lab
research indicates that the toxic flame retardants now found in our bodies have
the potential to disrupt the process of brain development in fetuses and infant
children. Humans are constantly exposed to a mixture of these chemicals from
the first day in the womb. These chemicals may be working together to interrupt
normal brain development and produce other toxic effects. At the same time,
various studies have found dramatically increasing numbers of children with
developmental, learning, and behavior disorders over the last decade, including
attention deficit disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and
autism. While it is usually impossible
to connect a single chemical to a broad health trend, the National Academy of Sciences
recently estimated that toxic exposures play a role in as many as 1 in 4 cases
of developmental disorders. Toxic flame retardants could be joining lead,
mercury, and PCBs among the chemicals responsible for harming children’s health
and development.
Recent
concern about PBDEs is eerily reminiscent of the debate over PCBs,
(polychlorinated biphenyls) in the 1960s, which led to their ban in the mid
1970s. After incidents of accidental PCB poisoning prompted concern, scientists
found that low-level exposure to PCBs was a worldwide problem.
After
years of study, scientists began to find adverse health effects at PCB levels
found in the general population. For example, children born to mothers who had
eaten PCB-contaminated fish from the Great Lakes
had learning, memory, and behavioral problems. Severe and irreparable damage
was found in accidental poisoning victims, including altered reproductive and
neural development, immune suppression, and cancer. Even twenty-seven years
after these chemicals were banned in the U.S., PCB contamination and
exposure persists across the globe today.
Several
brominated flame retardants are structurally quite similar to PCBs, and
consequently may affect the body in similar ways. As such, brominated flame
retardants may have the dubious honor of becoming the modern successor to PCBs.
Fortunately
for public health, alternative ways to protect against fire are widely
available. Companies are coming up with new ways to design products to be
flame-resistant, using inherently nonflammable materials and switching to less
toxic chemical additives in their products.
There are five classes of bromine-based flame retardants
(PBDEs): penta, octa, deca, TBBPA, and HBCD.
HB 1 would phase out one of these classes, deca. Deca-BDE is the most
important class to include in a phase-out.
Penta-BDE and octa-BDE are already being voluntarily phased out by
industry. Deca-BDE is the most widely
used, and becomes harmful to human health when it interacts with the
environment.
