Hello,

Photo: Surya Chataut, www.chatautphotography.com

Have a fun summer,
Arlene

Are Flame Retardants Needed in Car Seats? 

Researchers at Duke University found that people can be exposed to flame retardants from backpacking tents, which are often treated with flame retardants to comply with a flammability standard called CPAI-84. This standard is required in seven U.S. states, and many manufacturers sell flame retarded tents throughout the U.S. to comply. This is similar to the case of upholstered furniture, where furniture containing flame retardants was sold in the U.S. and Canada to meet California’s flammability regulations.

TDCPP, the same form of chlorinated tris that was removed from baby pajamas in the 1970s, was the most frequently detected flame retardant in the tents studied. The researchers found that levels of flame retardants on people’s hands increased after tent set-up. Also flame retardants were measured in the air inside tents. It’s disturbing to go into the great outdoors, only to be exposed to tris. We are in conversation with outdoor manufacturers who would like to change the tent flammability standard.

Teflon Toxin in Drinking Water

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently released lifetime drinking water health advisories for the highly fluorinated chemicals PFOA and PFOS. These harmful chemicals, used to provide stain and water repellency, can be found in food, in drinking water, and in nearly all of us. Here’s a dramatic CBS news story for which I was interviewed. To learn more about fluorinated chemicals, check out our web page, watch our Six Classes webinar, and listen to my recent KPFA interview on Sticky Issues.

PFOA, also called C8, was phased out in 2015 due to its toxicity and persistence. The common replacement, C6, is equally persistent and also being found in our drinking water. This is yet another unfortunate example of replacing a harmful chemical with a “cousin” from the same chemical class.

Here are two opposite perspectives about the toxicity of C6 indicating it should not be in our drinking water. And it should only be used in consumer products when necessary and there are no good substitutes.

• Industry Knowledge Foundation: “…short chain fluorinated chemicals have a favorable environmental, health and safety profile, rapid bioelimination and are not bioaccumulative…they are safe for workers, consumers and the environment…”
• From The Intercept: DuPont filed 16 reports to the EPA between April 2006 and January 2013 citing similar adverse health effects in animal studies from C6 exposure as found from C8 including cancer of the liver, pancreas, and testicles as well as kidney disease, liver degeneration, and uterine polyps.

A recent study found that 60% of 800 Michigan residents tested have higher PBB levels than 95% of the US population. PBBs are very similar in structure and properties to PBDEs, which were used as a flame retardant in furniture and baby product foam for decades and are still found in such products in our homes.

Over forty years ago in Michigan, Velsicol Chemical made a big mistake. By accident, they substituted a toxic flame retardant called polybrominated biphenyl (PBB), or Firemaster, for a feed supplement being distributed by the Michigan Farm Bureau. The chemical was added to livestock feed, exposing millions of Michigan residents who ate contaminated beef, chicken, pork, milk and eggs. The disaster was made into an award-winning movie called “Bitter Harvest” (1981), and described in Joyce Egginton’s classic book The Poisoning of Michigan. This toxic tragedy is told with the suspense of a detective novel.

Long-term health effects continue to impact those who were exposed, as well as their children and grandchildren. Adverse health effects include higher rates of breast cancer and miscarriages in women, and an increase in adverse genitourinary conditions in sons of the exposed. A registry for ongoing studies and more information is available from Emory University.

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