[Pharmwaste] Islanders call for chemical ban of PBDE (Puget Sound, Washington state)

[DeBiasi,Deborah]

http://www.bainbridgereview.com/portals-code/list.cgi?paper=96&cat=23&id
=827055&more=


Islanders call for chemical ban   
   
Sen. Phil Rockefeller
 
 
By TRISTAN BAURICK Staff Writer
Feb 06 2007 

Rockefeller, Munro say PBDE toxins are a threat to Puget Sound and its
people. 

What once made Ralph Munro a hero is now one of his greatest
adversaries. 

"It's ironic, because I helped create the stuff," said the island-native
and former secretary of state. "Now it's a tremendous detriment to our
health and to Puget Sound." 

Munro, like many in Puget Sound, has had a change of heart about
polybrominated diphenyl ethers, or PBDEs, a common flame retardant now
considered highly toxic and extremely pervasive in the Puget Sound
region. 

The chemical is increasingly found in salmon, orca whales, harbor seals
- even human breast milk and household dust. 

Research indicates that PBDEs may cause liver toxicity, thyroid ailments
and hamper neurological development. 

"Back in the 1970s, we were leading the charge in the (state)
Legislature to get it in children's sleepware," said Munro, a Republican
and key player in state politics until he retired in 2001. "We were
proclaimed as heroes and recognized around the world as leaders for
taking this step to save little babies' lives. 

"We had no idea that, 40 years later, we'd find that we've created a
pretty big mess." 

PBDE levels have soared since the 1980s, after the chemical was
incorporated into many common products including furniture, mattresses,
televisions, computer screens and other electronic products. 

With hindsight on his side, Sen. Phil Rockefeller hopes to use state
government to right what he sees as a 40-year-old wrong. 

The Bainbridge Island Democrat is co-sponsoring a bill that would ban
the "deca-BDE" form of the chemical. Two other forms - penta and octa -
are already prohibited in nine U.S. states, including Washington. 

According to Rockefeller, PBDEs are overtaking PCBs as the region's most
dangerous industrial contaminant. 

Like PCBs, PBDEs persist for years in the environment, often
contaminating multiple organisms as it climbs up and down the food
chain. While PCBs persist, their manufacture was banned in the 1970s.
PBDE levels, on the other hand, continue to grow in soil, waterways,
animals and humans. 

"The levels of PBDEs are doubling every four years in Puget Sound," said
Rockefeller, who plans argue for the ban on the Senate floor this week.
"We're seeing levels rise in harbor seals, orcas and in our communities.
It's a risk to public health and the environment in Puget Sound. And
Bainbridge is right at the heart of it." 

An analysis of harbor seals between 1984 and 2003 revealed that PBDE
concentrations in Puget Sound harbor seals increased from 15 to 1064
micrograms of pollutant per kilogram of fat - a meteoric increase of
1500 percent, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. 

Scientists say seals are getting their largest dose of PBDEs through
their diet - an indication the chemical is likely moving up the food
chain. 

According to the EPA, harbor seal prey netted in the sound show five
times the levels of PBDE contamination as fish and other organisms
caught off the Straight of Georgia near British Columbia. 

Especially alarming for Munro is PBDE's toxic effect on the sound's
resident orca whales. 

Munro helped lead efforts that earned the whale federal Endangered
Species Act status in 2005. 

"Orcas are one of the best indicators of concentrations, and they're
seeing a lot of that toxic stuff in them," said Munro, who frequently
sighted the whales off the island's shores as a child. 

PBDE concentration levels in Northwest orcas were 2 to 10 times greater
than in other whales, according to a study conducted by a team of
British Columbia scientists. 

The chemical has already made its way to the top of the food chain, with
numerous tests finding PBDEs in human bodies and homes. 

PBDEs were found in the breast milk of mothers living in the Northwest
at rates 20 to 40 times higher than those measured in Sweden and Japan,
according to the EPA. Another nationwide study found PBDEs in the
umbilical cord blood of newborns. 

Another recent study, also cited by the EPA, indicates high levels of
PBDEs in common household dust. Varieties of the compound comprised 90
percent of the makeup, by weight, of the study's samples. The deca form
was found in about 42 percent of the samples. 

These studies, as well as numerous others characterizing PBDEs as one of
the region's most prolific and toxic chemicals, were cited by the Puget
Sound Partnership in its recommendation for a state-wide ban. 

Rockefeller, one of the partnership's members, said tackling the toxin
is becoming a state priority thanks to Gov. Chris Gregoire endorsement
of the ban and her proposal to spend $54.7 million to clean up and
prevent toxic pollution in the sound. 

A ban on the deca form of PBDE would follow close on the heels of a
similar European Union prohibition. As of July, the EU bars the
manufacturing and sale of electronics made with the chemical. 

The European ban gives hope for toxics specialists opposing PBDEs. 

"The handwriting is on the wall for deca," said Laurie Valeriano, a
policy specialist for the Washington Toxics Coalition. "The decision by
the (EU) to ban certain products made with deca sends a signal to
electronics manufacturers across the globe, as well as Washington state
legislators." 

The proposed ban is not without its opponents. Some business leaders
contend that the deca form of PBDEs has a relatively low toxicity and
that a ban is unnecessary as some manufacturers, such as Dell Computers
and Apple Inc., have voluntarily stopped using the chemical. 

The Washington Fire Commissioners Association, in recent testimony to
the Senate, warned that a ban could establish a gap in fire safety
protection. But the Washington Association of Fire Chiefs have joined
environmental and public health organizations in urging for less-toxic
fire prevention alternatives. 

Rockefeller said the ban would require a fire safety standards review
and an exploration of alternatives to PBDEs. 

For Munro, the ban is a way to right an old wrong. 

"We thought we were pretty smart back then, when we introduced (PBDEs),"
he said. "Turns out, maybe we weren't so smart. Now, like everything,
that stuff's draining into Puget Sound. It's like our sink, and cleaning
the sink is the worst job at home. But it's our home and we've got to
find a way to clean it." 


************************************************************** 


Sound + vision 

This is the fifth installment in a seven-part series examining Gov.
Chris Gregoire's initiative and local efforts to protect Puget Sound.
Saturday: Eagle Harbor. 
 


Deborah L. DeBiasi
Email:   dldebiasi at deq.virginia.gov
WEB site address:  www.deq.virginia.gov
Virginia Department of Environmental Quality
Office of Water Permit Programs
Industrial Pretreatment/Toxics Management Program
Mail:          P.O. Box 1105, Richmond, VA  23218 (NEW!)
Location:  629 E. Main Street, Richmond, VA  23219
PH:         804-698-4028
FAX:      804-698-4032