Environmental Factor, July 2011, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences
NIEHS-funded study suggests high infant exposure to flame retardants
By Archana Dhasarathy
Stapleton, a chemist at the Nicholas School of the Environment at Duke University, was the recipient of the prestigious 2008 NIEHS Outstanding New Environmental Scientist (ONES) award. (Photo courtesy of Steve McCaw)
Birnbaum has published several studies on flame retardants and is recognized as a leading authority in the field. (Photo courtesy of Steve McCaw)
A new NIEHS-funded study by chemist Heather Stapleton, Ph.D., and her colleagues indicates that infants are being exposed to chemical flame retardants found in up to eighty percent of commonly used baby products, including car seats. According to Stapleton, these chemicals may be absorbed by infants through inhalation, ingestion or via their skin, and may pose significant health risks during childhood development.
Stapleton(http://fds.duke.edu/db/Nicholas/esp/faculty/stapleto) is an assistant professor of environmental chemistry at Duke University. She is an NIEHS Outstanding New Environmental Scientist awardee, and her study(http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/es2007462) was supported by a grant from NIEHS to investigate "Children's Exposure to Flame Retardants: Effects on Thyroid Hormone Regulation." (http://tools.niehs.nih.gov/portfolio/index.cfm?action=portfolio.grantdetail&grant_number=R01ES016099)
From furniture to babies
Manufacturers add flame retardant chemicals to polyurethane foam in order to meet a California flammability standard (TB 117) adopted in 1975, which requires it to withstand a 12-second open flame. Furniture manufacturers in many states have adopted the use of flame retardants to comply with the California standard, even though no federal law requires the use of flame retardants.
A few years ago, Stapleton's team was testing some polyurethane foam collected from furniture items that contained a label indicating that they met the California foam flammability standard. When Stapleton was shopping for baby products for her first child, she was surprised to observe the same labels on a number of baby products. "After talking with a few of my colleagues about this, we decided to conduct a study to determine whether and how frequently these items were treated with flame retardants," she said.
Eighty percent of baby products contain flame retardants
In their study, the researchers examined 101 commonly used baby products, including car seats, baby changing pads, and nursing pillows, for the presence of these chemicals. Using mass spectrometry, they confirmed that nearly 80 of these samples contained either a chlorinated or brominated flame retardant additive.
During their analysis they found compounds commonly associated with pentabromodiphenyl ether (pentaBDE), which was banned in Europe and withdrawn from the US market, in five products, suggesting products with pentaBDE are still in use. In addition they found two potential carcinogens, TCEP and TDCPP, and identified two previously undocumented chlorinated organophosphate flame retardants, among others.
Health concerns during early infant development
When asked about the exposure and health concerns for infants, Stapleton said, "I don't think we know much at all about the potential human health effects from exposure to these chemicals. What we do know is that infants are likely receiving more exposure to these chemicals than adults. Therefore, more research is warranted to determine if this exposure is leading to any adverse health effects."
NIEHS/NTP Director Linda Birnbaum, Ph.D. (http://www.niehs.nih.gov/about/od/director/index.cfm) concurred. "Some of these chemicals are very persistent in the environment and thus have the potential to cause a variety of adverse health effects," she said. She also pointed out that there are ongoing studies at NIEHS and the NTP that aim to test both short- and long-term effects of a variety of flame retardants.
Avoiding products with flame retardants
Why do we need these chemicals at al