News Coverage
Chemicals: PBDE Levels Higher in California Fish, Bird Eggs
Published July 9, 2003
As the California state Senate prepares to vote on a bill that would ban chemicals commonly used as flame retardants, research released yesterday shows the chemicals have significantly increased in sport fish and bird eggs in the San Francisco Bay.
Developers use the chemicals, polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), as flame retardants in upholstery, plastics and foam. PBDE levels have tripled in San Francisco Bay's striped bass and doubled in California halibut since 1997, according to a study conducted by the state and the Environmental Working Group. And a state and federal study showed PBDE levels in eggs from three tern species and the California clapper rail in the Bay area were 25 percent higher than those in a tern species in Washington state. Further, the most prevalent PBDEs had levels almost as high as the most prevalent PCBs. Scientists had expected PBDEs to be at one-tenth the levels of PCBs.
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