Toxic Toddlers

Posted by Jeffrey St. Clair on September 15th, 2008 | Link

TODDLERS ABSORB MORE TOXIC CHEMICALS THAN MOTHERS

By Suzanne Bohan, Oakland Tribune

In a world permeated with chemicals, toddlers’ penchant for crawling
on floors, chewing on assorted objects and touching everything within
reach expose their bodies to a disproportionate amount of toxic
pollutants.

That’s the conclusion of a study released today by the Environmental
Working Group in Oakland, which monitored 20 pairs of moms and their
young children. The group reported that the children, on average,
carried more than three times the amount of flame retardants in their
blood than their mothers.

It’s only the second study to examine this chemical load in U.S.
toddlers, and breaks new ground in taking a national glimpse at its
prevalence.

MediaNews, in its 2005 series “A Body’s Burden,” first opened
researchers’ eyes to the particular perils faced by young children in
a world where more than 80,000 chemicals are found in all manner of
products.

This latest research, which focused on blood levels of flame
retardants in samplings of mothers and toddlers across the country,
dovetails with findings of the award-winning newspaper series by
reporter Douglas Fischer, according to Linda Birnbaum, a senior
toxicologist with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The series reported that a 20-month-old boy and his 5-year-old sister
consistently bore higher levels of flame retardants and other
chemicals in their bodies in comparison with their parents. The
results were condensed into a journal article, published in 2006 by
the National Institutes of Health, and it’s now cited in scientific
literature.

“Not only does this (new) study agree with what we saw with the
Fischer study,” said Birnbaum, “but it indicates that children and
teenagers have (higher levels of chemicals) than adults.”

She added, “This is not something we would have predicted a few years
ago.”

The new study found that in 19 of the 20 families, concentrations of
flame retardants were significantly higher in children than in their
mothers. In all, 11 different types of flame retardants were found in
these children.

Although the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention conducts
periodic monitoring of blood levels for more than 140 chemicals in a
cross section of adults across the United States, analyses of young
children hasn’t been part of that effort.

But it should be, insists Dr. Anila Jacob, a senior scientist with the
Environmental Working Group’s Washington, D.C., office.

“Children are so much more vulnerable to toxic chemicals,” she said,
describing animal studies linking permanent changes in growing brains
with exposure to flame retardants.

Birnbaum is one of the country’s experts on the health effects of
flame retardants, also called polybrominated diphenyl ethers, or
PBDEs. She said research suggests that flame retardants circulating in
the body damage nerve tissue, affecting learning and memory.

A 2008 report from the EPA stated that animal studies on PBDEs found
that the chemicals were damaging to the kidney, thyroid and liver. One
flame retardant in particular, Deca, is also a “possible human
carcinogen,” the EPA report noted.

But the minute amounts of flame retardant detected in the
Environmental Working Group study hardly raise reason for alarm,
stated John Kyle, North American director for the Bromine Science and
Environmental Forum, representing Deca manufacturers, in an email.

Flame retardants save lives, Kyle emphasized, and no one has ever
reported any “illness, ailment or harm” from exposure to the
chemicals, even among those working with it, he stated.

Nonetheless, because of mounting concerns over their possible health
effects, even in minute quantities, the forum supports close
monitoring and analysis by scientists and regulators, Kyle added.

Charlie Auer, director of the EPA’s Office of Pollution Prevention and
Toxics, said the agency will soon be asking U.S. manufacturers of
flame retardants to sponsor additional studies on exposure effects in
children.

Deca is the only type of flame retardant still produced in the
country.

The manufacturer of two other varieties voluntarily ceased production
in 2005, and the EPA since enacted a regulation banning U.S.
production or import of those two chemicals, due to health and
environmental concerns. Loopholes, however, allow import of products
made with these chemicals, today’s study noted.

In addition, they’re still in furniture and foam items purchased
before the phase-out.

Deca is used to keep the plastics in televisions, computers, stereo
equipment and other electronic gear from catching fire, as well as
products like the lining of some curtains. Like other flame
retardants, it slows the ignition and spread of fire, providing time
to escape or extinguish a fire. They’ve been remarkably effective in
reducing death, injury and damage from fires.

Other varieties of flame retardants are also found in furniture,
carpets, couches, baby seats, pillows and other products made of foam
or plastics. Some manufacturers are voluntarily phasing out these
products and replacing them with other flame retardants, or
redesigning their products to lessen fire danger. But there’s no way
for consumers to know which flame retardant, if any, is in a product.

Minute traces of flame retardants have been detected worldwide in air,
sediments, surface water, aquatic animal species and terrestrial
wildlife. In the Bay Area, two pairs of nesting peregrine falcons had
some of the highest levels of Deca of any living organism tested.

The most common route of exposure to flame retardants comes from dust
in homes, or from directly touching products made from it. Given its
prevalence in the environment, it has also entered the food supply.

Traces were found in a variety of grocery store items tested for flame
retardants in one study.

Two states, Washington and Maine, now ban the use of Deca, and
legislators in 10 other states, including California, have proposed
bans, according to the Environmental Working Group. The European Union
also banned the sales of products containing Deca.

Kristi Chester Vance is a San Francisco mother who participated in the
Environmental Working Group study, along with her 4-year-old daughter
Stella, to help advance the research. But she decided she didn’t want
to know what level of flame retardant she and her daughter carry.

Stella already endured a round with lead poisoning when she was
younger, and Vance wants relief from worries over environmental
contaminants she has little control over.

Vance wants the government to take a far more aggressive stance in
studying the thousands of industrial chemicals approved for use,
usually with limited data on health effects.

But she makes efforts to keep the ubiquitous flame retardant residue
out of her home, by mopping regularly to get rid of dust, using a
vacuum with a fine particle filter, and she keeps her laptop computer
off her lap. She and her children also wash their hands more
frequently.

Beyond that, Vance figures she can’t do much more and still maintain
her peace of mind.

“You just reach a point where you have to balance mental health and
just enjoy these few years of childhood without looking at your kids
and wondering what’s going on in their cells,” she said. “Sadly, I
have to work pretty hard at it.”
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Sidebar: How to Limit Your Exposure to Toxic Flame Retardants

When purchasing new electronics products, look for these brands, which
have publicly committed to phasing out brominated fire retardants:

Acer, Apple, Eizo Nanao, LG Electronics, Lenovo, Matsushita,
Microsoft, Nokia, Phillips, Samsung, Sharp, Sony-Ericsson and Toshiba.

When purchasing furniture, opt for less flammable fabrics and
materials such as leather, wool and cotton.

Discard foam items with ripped covers or decaying foam. If you can’t
replace them, keep the covers intact.

Use a vacuum fitted with a HEPA filter. These vacuums are more
efficient at trapping small particles.

Be careful when removing old carpet. The padding may contain flame
retardants.

SOURCE: Environmental Working Group

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Reach Suzanne Bohan at sbohan@bayareanewsgroup.com or (650) 348-4324

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