News Coverage
Anti-fire agents polluting Bay Area
Study finds high level of toxic chemicals in region that may affect health
Published July 10, 2003
Chemical flame retardants in everyday products from computers to seat cushions are showing up in surprising concentrations in the Bay Area, a study released Thursday by the Environmental Working Group reported.
No one understands how the chemicals leach into the environment, but the Bay Area has emerged as a hot spot for PBDEs, or polybrominated diphenyl ethers, according to the report.
Tests conducted on 22 fish caught in the San Francisco Bay found each one had trace amounts of the chemical, used in hundreds of consumer products from curling irons to couches to smoke detectors.
More alarming, to author Sonya Lunder, a scientist with the Washington, D.C.-based group, was how rapidly it had accumulated. Levels in halibut doubled from what scientists measured five years ago, while concentrations in striped bass nearly tripled, she said.
"We don't have to poison the Bay or our bodies for fire safety," Lunder said. "Computers and other products can be made flame-resistant by using different materials or better design, instead of adding toxic chemicals that are a public health timebomb."
Previous lab studies have shown exposure to low dosages of PBDEs causes neurological and developmental damage, particularly in fetuses and infants. Trace amounts are found in house dust, indoor air, even human blood and breast milk. The European Union has banned two types of PBDEs, and China will follow suit in 2006 with a ban on the entire class of chemicals.
In America, use almost doubled between 1992 and 2000, Lunder said, with California and its strict fire protection laws accounting for the bulk
A bill banning two of the most common types of PBDEs in California is poised to pass the state Legislature. The measure, sponsored by Assembly Majority Leader Wilma Chan, D-Oakland, received a rare endorsement from the California Environmental Protection Agency this week.
"The United States is the biggest maker and user of chemical flame retardants in the world, and California is the biggest market," Chan said. "We cannot afford to let the chemical industry ... let children be born with brain damage."
Chan's bill, Assembly Bill 302, wouldn't take effect until 2008. As PBDE is used now, 365 million pounds will be released into the environment between now and then, Lunder said.
The danger, said Lunder, is that PBDE shows signs it is as persistent a pollutant as another class of toxic chemicals -- PCBs, or polychlorinated biphenyls. The U.S. banned the latter 30 years ago, yet "significant levels" are still found in people and the environment, she said.
"We shouldn't be smug," said Bill Walker, the Environmental Working Group's West Coast vice president. "The rising levels in fish are indicative of rising levels in our bodies."
"There's an awful lot of the story that remains to be told."