[Pharmwaste] Fire Retardants everywhere in Australia

[DeBiasi,Deborah]

http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,21367478-5006007,00.
html

Toxins hiding in your home
By Saffron Howden

March 13, 2007 12:00

TOXIC chemicals found in household items like TVs, stereos, computers,
fridges and carpets to stop them catching fire are making their way into
the air and dust in Australian homes.

The first study of brominated flame retardant concentrations in
Australian homes found the most dangerous of these - PBDEs - was in the
air and dust of all households tested. 

It was also detected in 90 per cent of surface wipe samples. 

The government-commissioned study, released this week, sampled indoor
air, dust and surfaces in five homes and three offices in Queensland. 

The highest concentrations were found in an office with carpet and air
conditioning which had been refurbished in the past two years. 

A home with no air conditioning or carpet had the lowest levels. 

Although little is known about the impact of polybrominated diphenyl
ethers (PBDEs), the largest amounts have been found in blood taken from
children aged up to four years - because they are more likely to crawl
around on floors. 

The compound has also been found in breast milk. 

Blood from newborns to four-year-olds recorded concentrations twice as
high as the five to 15-year age group and four times higher than people
aged over 16. 

Because the use of PBDEs began in the 1970s when electronic goods
proliferated, older Australians had the lowest concentrations. 

It is thought PBDEs make their way into the air and dust when they are
released from household items. 

Like dioxins, PBDEs accumulate up the food chain and lab mice and rats
exposed to the compounds have shown damage to the liver, nervous system,
brain and reproductive organs.

The Australian Government has adopted a precautionary approach based on
the available evidence and in the last month banned the import of the
two most toxic classes of the chemical, pentaBDE and octaBDE but not the
products in which they are contained. 

PBDEs are not manufactured in Australia but are common in imported goods
like furniture and upholstery, cars and planes, computers, telephone
handsets and kitchen appliances. 

Some PBDE compounds have been nominated for possible inclusion on the
Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants, which would, if
successful, lead to a global ban. 

Australia's National Toxics Network (NTN) said all products containing
PBDEs should be banned. 
"Exposure of Australian children to PBDEs first through breast milk and
then household dust is very worrying,'' NTN spokeswoman Mariann
Lloyd-Smith said. 

"We know these chemicals are reproductive poisons, endocrine disrupters
affecting hormones and the development of the brain, and have been
linked with cancer.''

 

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