High levels of toxin found in breast milk
By Elizabeth Weise
USA Today
A toxic chemical used to make furniture, foam and electronics fire resistant is turning up in high amounts in the breast milk of U.S. women.
Two studies, one released today, found that 100 percent of the women tested were contaminated with polybrominated diphenyl ethers, a brominated flame retardant. Their PBDE levels were the highest in the world and 10 to 20 times higher than those in Europe.
The Environmental Working Group, a nonprofit environmental research organization, tested the milk of 20 women across the nation. It found levels ranging from 9.5 to 1,078 parts per billion. The women were recruited from a posting on EWG's Web site. "This is another wake-up call," said Linda Birnbaum, director of the Environmental Protection Agency's experimental toxicology lab.
Levels of PBDEs are doubling in humans every two to five years, Birnbaum said.
A University of Texas-Houston study by Arnold Schecter, professor of environmental sciences, and Birnbaum, published last month in "Environmental Health Perspectives", found levels in breast milk ranging from 5 to 418 parts per billion in 47 American women. Breast milk is tested because it's the least invasive way to test fat, where PBDEs are stored.
No studies have yet been done on what a safe level for humans would be. In mice and rats, several studies have shown that PBDEs may cause cognitive and behavior changes during development and higher cancer rates.
Peter O'Toole of the Bromine Science and Environmental Forum, notes that the effects on humans can't be extrapolated from rodents.
PBDEs are widely used because the United States has the world's toughest flame-retardency standards. There are fewer preventable fires from burning electrical equipment and furniture here than in Europe.
PBDEs may enter the environment during manufacturing or when products release them as they break down. Some say the major source is animal fat in food. One study found them in house dust.
"These are our babies. Do we want them to be dumber than we are because their brains are being attacked by these toxic chemicals?" Schecter asked.
