We all want to protect ourselves and our families from fires. But are the very regulations intended to protect us unintentionally exposing us to toxic chemicals? A new study led by the Silent Spring Institute suggests California’s strict furniture flammability standard—the strictest in the world—may be leading to elevated levels of flame retardant PBDEs (polybrominated diphenyl ethers) in California homes and residents, as compared to other locations across the country and the world.

PBDEs have been added to everyday household items like foam furniture and electronics since the 1970s. A growing body of evidence shows that PBDEs can drift out of those products into air and dust, where people can breathe or ingest them. Children are especially vulnerable because they spend a lot of time on the floor and like to put things in their mouths. A recent report by the Environmental Working Group shows young children have levels of PBDEs in their blood three times the levels found in their parents.

Although the human health effects of PBDEs remain uncertain, animal tests suggest these chemicals cause thyroid hormone disruption, and reproductive and developmental problems.

Adding cause for concern, PBDEs are close relatives to PCBs—banned industrial chemicals used in electrical equipment—which have been linked to breast cancer and impaired brain development in humans.
The Silent Spring Institute study found levels of penta-BDE, a commercial mixture of PBDEs used in furniture foam, in California house dust that were 4 to 10 times higher than in other areas in the U. S. and 200 times higher than in Europe. The most contaminated homes had the highest levels ever detected in indoor dust. The researchers also found penta-BDE in the blood of California residents at levels twice as high as the national average.

The good news is that penta-BDE manufacturing has already been phased out due to health concerns. But the chemical lingers in older products, the environment, wildlife, and humans.

Also troubling is that, in order to meet California’s stringent standards, new chemicals have been substituted that are similar in form to PBDEs—and thus suspected to be similarly toxic—but that haven’t been tested for safety. Concerns about safety gave PBDEs a bad name so the manufacturer stopped making them. The problem now is that one hazardous chemical is being traded for another. These alternative flame retardants include the widely used but little studied Firemaster 550, and TDCP [tri(1,3-dichloro-2-propyl) phosphate], a probable human carcinogen.

California is now considering expanding its fire standards to include bed coverings, and the U. S. government is considering adopting similar standards—measures that would likely increase the use of potentially harmful flame retardants.

(See Environmental Science and Technology, October 1, 2008 or www.silentspring.org)