PBDE/PBB (Brominated Flame Retardants)
Background
Uses: Polybrominated Diphenyl Ethers (PBDEs) are flame retardants currently used in polyeurethane and in coatings on fabrics and furniture. There are three technical mixtures: penta, octa and deca. Each mixture contains several congeners. PBDES are currently unregulated in the United States. The penta technical mixture of BDE has been banned in the EU starting July 1, 2003. There are two manufacturers of PBDEs worldwide one in the US and one in Israel. Polybrominated Biphenyls (PBBs) are also flame retardants used in plastics. They have been banned in the US since 1977 because of their toxicity. Worldwide production of these chemicals stopped last year.
Health Effects: PBDEs are known to have dioxin-like toxicity. . They have been found in humans and human umbilical cord blood. A recent Swedish study of human breast milk shows PBDEs exponentially increasing with a doubling time of 5 years (Meironyte et al., 1999). Despite having been banned, PBB-153 continues to be found in human blood in Michigan. This may be due to a 1973 accident in Michigan in which PBBs (mostly 153) were accidentally mixed with dairy cow feed. This accident caused PBBs to get into the milk supply and be widely distributed and consumed in the state.
Ecological Effects: PBDEs have been measured in several media including fish and air. In Lake Michigan salmonids, the concentration range is 45-150 ng/g ww for total PBDEs (Manchester-Neesvig et al., 2001). Air near Eagle Harbor, Sturgeon Point and Sleeping Bear Dunes has a range of 5-20 pg/m3 (Strandberg et al., 2001). The air in Chicago has PDBE concentrations of 40-70 pg/m3. It was recently reported that PBB-153 is found in lake trout from all the Great Lakes (Luross et al., 2001). The concentrations have decreased from 30 ng/g to 15 ng/g over the period 1978-1988, but it is still present and may be of concern in fish.
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