Fire Retardant Chemicals Detected In Children’s Blood

efluxmedia.com, Dianna Cooper
Published September 4, 2008

According to The Environmental Working Group, a fire retardant chemical employed in electronics, toys and furniture has been spotted in kids’ blood at triple the levels found in their mothers. As shown by a new report released by the nonprofit environmental research organization, the children stand more chances than their mothers to have a fire retardant chemical in their blood. The fire retardant, known as PBDE, is frequently used in furniture, toys and electronics, Reuters reported. 20 families have participated in a study, where EWG collected blood samples of children aged 18 months to 4 years, as well as samples of their mothers', in order to find out the concentrations of the hormone-disrupting chemical in their blood. As stated by Sonya Lunder, the author of the research, in 19 of the 20 families the levels of the fire retardant chemical were on average three times as high in children as in their mothers. And one toddler was found to have 6 times the concentration of PBDE that was discovered in her mother. "To us, this raises concerns that kids live very differently in the same environment than their parents do and those kid-like behaviors put them at risk for contaminant exposure," Lunder asserted. In spite of the fact that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention carries out regular monitoring of blood levels for over 140 chemicals in a range of U.S. adults, very few studies on the impact of these industrial substances on kids have been conducted. This was just a pilot study. Additional research will be done.