WASHINGTON, D.C.—A
commonly used flame retardant threatens health and illustrates the need to reform
U.S. toxic chemical policy, according to a
new report released today by U.S. PIRG. In lab tests, scientists have linked
decabrominated diphenyl ether (Deca)—a chemical closely related to two
flame retardants recently banned in California—to health effects including
neurological damage or permanent memory loss, and have detected the chemical
in the breast milk of American women at levels higher than anywhere else in
the world.
"Mothers and their
children should not be involuntary test subjects for the effects of Deca and
other toxic chemicals," reports U.S. PIRG's Environmental Health Associate
Meghan Purvis. "The good news is Deca is not necessary for fire safety:
alternatives exist that protect people from fire and are not linked to negative
health effects."
Toxic flame-retardants like
Deca are widely used in a variety of common consumer products, including in
electronics and electrical equipment, as well as in upholstery and other textiles.
North American industry used more than 49 million pounds in 2001—about
half the world market.
Deca and other toxic flame
retardants escape from consumer products into air and water and have been found
in household dust and in the food supply. The chemicals accumulate in the human
body, pass from a mother to a developing fetus, and have been found in human
breast milk.
"Mothers and babies
have a fundamental right to breast milk that is free of toxins," commented
Carrie Ganz, IBCLC, MSW, the Area Coordinator of Leaders for the La Leche League
of Maryland, Delaware, and the District of Columbia.
Deca is one type of flame
retardant called polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs). Deca breaks down under
sunlight and during metabolic processes into the types of toxic flame-retardants,
pentabrominated (Penta) and octabrominated (Octa) diphenyl ethers, recently
banned in California and Europe. One manufacturer has agreed to voluntarily
phase out all their production of Penta to avoid human health consequences nationwide.
"The latest science
clearly points to the need for a federal ban of Deca and other toxic flame retardants,"
said U.S. PIRG's Purvis. "We cannot continue to expose children or adults
to harmful chemicals like Deca while we wait for health impacts to develop.
Harmful chemicals should not be placed on the market in the first place."
The main U.S. law for chemicals
regulation is the 1976 Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). Under TSCA, the
EPA has the authority to ban chemicals, but must take on such a great burden
for action that they have not banned a chemical since PCBs were banned in 1976.
As a result, chemicals like Deca can be on the market for decades before their
threat to human health is discovered.
California's ban did not
include Deca because the science was incomplete and the chemical industry argued
that Deca molecules were too big to be absorbed by people's bodies. However,
several recent groundbreaking studies summarized in U.S. PIRG's report found
Deca in human blood and breast milk in the bodies of electronics workers as
well as in people who had not been exposed in the workplace.
U.S. PIRG called on Congress
to ban Deca and other PBDEs. In addition, U.S. PIRG advocated reform of toxic
chemical regulation and efforts to protect human health through extensive pre-market
health effects testing and reductions in the use of hazardous chemicals.
