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Fire Retardant Chemical Found in Children at Three
Times the Level of Their Parents
Children's bodies carry three times the levels of toxic fire
retardant chemicals as their parents, according to a study conducted by
the nonprofit Environmental Working Group
Researchers tested the
blood of 20 mothers and their children between the ages of 18 months and
four years for levels of the flame retardant chemicals known as
polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs). In 19 of the families tested,
children had PBDE levels roughly three times higher than their mothers;
in the 20th, a child had blood levels six times higher than her
mother's.
"To us, this raises concerns that kids live very differently in the same
environment than their parents do,and those kid-like behaviors put them
at risk for contaminant exposure," said study author Sonya Lunder.
According to Lunder, young children are greater risk of PBDE exposure
because they regularly explore their surroundings with their hands, then
put their hands and other objects into their mouths. When children touch
household furniture or electronics that have been treated with PBDEs, it
is easy for the chemicals to later end up in their bodies.
In addition, Lunder noted, young children eat far more than adults
relative to their body mass, exposing them to a higher relative dose of
toxins through their diet.
PBDEs are known to build up in the body and to disrupt the endocrine
system. Their toxic effects on adults are well-documented, but few
studies have been carried out on how they affect children. Other
endocrine disruptors, however, are well known to cause reproductive,
developmental and neurological defects in infants and children, and
studies on mice have found that a single dose of PBDEs during brain
development can lead to permanently altered behavior patterns.
The manufacture of two varieties of PBDE has been halted in the United
States, but the chemicals are still allowed in consumer products.
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