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A new class of toxic chemicals has been
discovered in breast milk, in human blood, in food, in remote
rural air, in wild fish, and in the sewage sludge being applied
as fertilizer on food crops across the U.S.
A Canadian health official recently summed up the discovery
saying, "This stuff is everywhere."[1]
The newly-discovered contaminants are
brominated flame retardants. Bromine is a highly-reactive
chemical element, a halogen in the same class as chlorine
and iodine.
Worldwide, eight chemical corporations manufacture about 300
million pounds of brominated fire retardants each year, of
which about 80 million pounds are members of the class known
as polybromo diphenyl ethers, or PBDEs.[2]
Although all brominated fire retardants seem capable of creating
environment and health problems, here we will focus on PBDEs,
which leach into the environment from the plastics in appliances,
TVs and computers, foam in upholstery, and the fabrics of
carpets and draperies. Many hard styrene plastics and many
foam padding materials are 5% to 30% PBDE by weight.
Like their cousin PCBs (polychlorinated
biphenyls), many PBDEs persist for years in the environment,
accumulate in the food chain and concentrate in fatty tissues.
A recent survey of the PBDE literature revealed that some
PBDEs can cause cancer,
interfere with hormones, and disrupt normal growth and development
in laboratory animals.[3]
Recent studies have shown that these brominated compounds
can interfere with the thyroid hormone, which is critical
for the proper development of the brain and central nervous
system in animals and humans. Baby mice exposed to PBDEs show
permanent behavioral and memory problems, which worsen with
age.[3,4]
Because PBDEs are found at very high levels in computers,
carpets and the foam padding inside furniture, the thick dust
covering "ground zero" in lower Manhattan doubtless
contains substantial quantities of PBDEs, so anyone breathing
the air there without proper safety equipment is inhaling
these toxicants.
The dust at the site of the World Trade Center atrocities
resulted from "thousands of plastic computers, acres
of flammable carpet, [and] tons of office furniture...."
pulverized when the twin towers and other nearby buildings
collapsed September 11.
To make matters worse, a portion of this high-tech dust is
being continuously incinerated by a stubborn fire smoldering
beneath the rubble.[5]
In several "risk assessments" of air pollution hazards
at "ground zero" US Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA) has concluded that the air in lower Manhattan is safe
for workers and residents,[6] but EPA's risk assessment did
not consider PBDEs (nor did it consider many other chemicals
probably present in that air).
Notably, in spite of EPA's assurances of safety, more than
4000 people have developed chronic chest pain, a persistent
cough now known as "world trade center cough" and
asthma-like (or emphysema-like) breathing problems from exposure
to the air in lower Manhattan.[7]
EPA has also employed risk assessment to declare the use of
contaminated sewage sludge "safe" as fertilizer
on food crops, but here again EPA did not consider the effects
of PBDEs (or many other chemicals) on the crops, on people
eating the crops, or on the natural environment in which the
crops are grown.
An estimated 8 billion pounds of contaminated sewage sludge
are routinely spread onto farmland in the US each year. In
July of this year researchers reported finding high concentrations
of PBDEs in 11 samples of sewage sludge from Virginia, New
York and California.[8]
This of course is one of the unavoidable failings of a risk-assessment
approach to managing toxic chemicals -- you can only (partially)
assess the risks of chemicals that you know a great deal about.
US chemical manufacturers introduce about 1000 new chemicals
into commercial use each year with no safety testing required
and little or none done.
Typically, safety testing only begins after industrial chemicals
have been discovered causing harm 10 to 20 years after introduction.
Risk assessments are always "behind the curve" and
therefore always give false assurances of safety.
An alternative to the risk assessment approach is to take
precautionary action as soon as evidence of harm begins to
emerge.
A recent survey by a group of Scandinavian researchers reports
that PBDE levels have been increasing exponentially in the
environment in Sweden for 30 years and show no sign of leveling
off.[2] Recent studies indicate that the US is far more contaminated
than Sweden.
For example, sewage sludge in the US contains 10 to 100 times
as much PBDE as does European sludge.[8] Other major sources
of PBDEs are thought to be municipal incinerators and landfills.[2]
PBDEs can also volatilize (ooze into the air) out of electrical
components, especially from warm devices such as computers
and TV sets.
PBDEs are not very soluble in water, but they dissolve readily
in fat. They are also persistent in the environment (meaning
they break down only slowly). As they move through the food
chain, they concentrate and biomagnify. These are the very
characteristics that have caused other industrial poisons
to be labeled bad actors and yanked from the market, including
DDT and PCBs.
Given these characteristics, it was no surprise when Scandinavian
scientists reported earlier this year that PBDEs
have been increasing exponentially in breast milk
in Sweden since 1972, the concentration doubling every 5 years.[2]
The researchers emphasized that current levels in breast milk,
and in the Swedish diet, are far below the levels known to
harm laboratory animals, but they concluded that "the
time trend of PBDEs in human breast milk is alarming
for the future."
No one knows for sure what the effects of PBDEs might be on
developing embryos or suckling infants. It is worth emphasizing
here that breast milk, even laced as it is with low levels
of industrial poisons, is still the best food for infants
because all the alternatives are worse.
PBDEs are now everywhere. European researchers have found
PBDEs in freshwater and ocean fish (salmon, herring, sprat),
in air at remote rural locations, in sewage sludge, in deep
ocean sediments, in eels, seals, shellfish, bottlenose dolphins,
porpoises, pilot whales, and crabs, among other species. Based
on limited studies, the Great Lakes appear to be among the
most PBDE-contaminated bodies of water in the world, with
Lake Michigan the worst.[2]
Studies in Germany, Holland, Sweden, Japan and the US have
reported the presence of PBDEs in fish, meat, cow's milk,
fats/- oils, and bakery products. Studies of human blood in
the US have revealed PBDEs in all samples.
In 1999 the Swedish Chemicals Inspectorate concluded that,
"The lower-brominated technical PBDE compounds, containing
mostly pentaBDE, are persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic
in the aquatic environment.
They show effects above all on the liver but also on thyroid
hormone and affect the behaviour of mice. They occur widely
in the environment, in human blood and in mother's milk."[10]
In Sweden, this combination of characteristics triggers precautionary
action to remove such chemicals from the market. Denmark and
the Netherlands have also taken steps to ban PBDEs.[2,11]
In September the European Union decided to take precautionary
action without waiting for conclusive scientific evidence
of harm. The European Parliament voted September 6
to ban the use, manufacture, and import of some forms of PBDEs
during the next few years, but the European Council
of Ministers must approve the ban before it becomes law.
Naturally, all such bans will be subject to challenge in the
secret tribunals of the World Trade Organization (WTO) if
any of the world's eight manufacturers of PBDEs decides to
fight for its self-declared "right" to turn a profit
by discharging industrial poisons into the environment.
The manufacturers have reportedly expressed "furious
opposition" to the European ban.[11] One of the main
purposes in setting up the WTO was to allow corporations (acting
through pliant governments) to use "risk assessment"to
challenge and repeal the health and safety regulations of
any and all nations.
Prior to the WTO, corporations had no way to challenge the
health and safety policies of all nations simultaneously,
so the WTO offers remarkable new efficiencies in this regard.
Risk assessment is ideally suited for such a purpose, especially
when little is known about the chemicals being assessed. The
less is known, the safer the chemicals can be made to appear
-- just as with the air at ground zero.
The US government has no regulations governing the manufacture,
use, or disposal of PBDEs, and has announced no plans to initiate
regulations. US chemical policy is still in a primitive state,
guided by the philosophy, "Don't ask, don't tell."
PBDEs are similar in chemical form, and in many of their actions,
to PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls), which are among the most
dangerous and persistent chemicals ever let loose by corporate
imprudence.
The US banned PCBs in 1976, when much less was known about
PCBs than is known about PBDEs today. But our political situation
is far different today than it was in 1976. Corporations today
are much more powerful and governments are substantially weaker.
Corporations have succeeded in embedding risk assessment into
all US government decision-making processes, so precautionary
action is nearly inconceivable within most agencies of government.
The public is much better informed, but its democratic institutions
(public schools, the press, the judiciary, Congress and the
executive branch) have been hijacked by corporate money and
now mainly serve powerful elites, regardless of the general
welfare.
Within 10 to 15 years PBDEs will have surpassed PCBs as environmental
hazards. Breast milk studies
indicate that the danger to infants and children is rapidly
rising. Who will lead this fight to allow us to
take precautionary action against the corporate poisoners?
Environmental
Research Foundation
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