The popular notion has been that food is the source of the toxic flame retardants PBDEs. Wait, what?! Have I already lost you?PBDEs are related to their infamous cousins, PCBs. Not only in structure, either. Both are toxic, and both bioaccumulate. How? Well, PBDEs start out in foam padding of furniture or in electronics and other oddities, and then they end up breaking down in landfills, thus entering the water system and even the land, getting into the lowest levels of the food chain. They then travel upwards through the food chain. Humans who eat meat munch on a heckuva lot more PBDEs than vegetarian people.
But that's not the only way we come into contact with flame retardants. Of course, we get hit with them through the actual products. That's why it's important to pick up, say, an organic crib mattress for your little ones. To minimize the risk.
Now, new research shows that we may be getting a dose of flame retardents from the bane of household existence: dust.
HBCDs (hexabromocyclododecanes...bless you!) are just as harmful as PBDEs, and they're more present in our everyday lives
When researchers followed a small sample of people (16) they found that the HBCDs were indeed in their blood, but rarely in their food, of which they provided samples.
Researchers reported a strong correlation between the estimated dust intake of HBCDs and the blood concentration of the chemical.
However, the toxin was in all dust samples.
From Environmental Health News:
The use of HBCD-treated products, rather than industrial pollution, may thus contribute more importantly to human exposure. In addition, infants and toddlers may be at greatest risk of exposure because they crawl on floors and may increase their exposure due to hand-to-mouth behavior.Because this was a study performed in Belgium, it may play out differently in the States. After all, Europe has banned PBDEs, so HBCD is often the replacement fire retardant. But it could be an indicator of our own exposure for either toxin.
Indeed, a year ago, the Environmental Working Group found that toddlers had much higher levels of PBDEs than the adults in their houses, as much as 3 times as high.
So what's the prob, Bob? Well, these chemicals interfere with the thyroid gland, which controls metabolism and growth. They also may impair brain development, memory, and learning.
While you're looking to "go green" in your diet, you also might want to go for natural and organic household goods. Or at least shy away from the items "protected" with flame retardants.
Image: Beige Alert on Flickr under a Creative Commons License.
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