[Pharmwaste] Fire Retardants In Baby Products May Pose Health Risks

Wed May 18 10:36:56 EDT 2011

http://pubs.acs.org/cen/news/89/i21/8921scene3.html

May 18, 2011 
		DOI:10.1021/CEN051111104828
Fire Retardants In Baby Products May Pose Health Risks 
Toxic Substances: Infants may be exposed to high levels of a toxic fire retardant
Kellyn Betts <http://pubs.acs.org/cen/environment/about/contact.html> 
 <<Picture (Device Independent Bitmap)>> Shutterstock 
CUSHIONING IMPACTS Flame retardants in baby products’ polyurethane foam padding can escape into nearby environments.
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Related ACS Journals
*	Identification of Flame Retardants in Polyurethane Foam Collected from Baby Products
Environ. Sci. Technol., DOI: 10.1021/es2007462 <http://pubs.acs.org/cgi-bin/cen/trustedproxy.cgi?redirect=http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/es2007462> 
Topics Covered
flame retardants <http://pubs.acs.org/iapps/wld/cen/results.html?sortBy=date&field1=author&line1=&bool2=AND&field2=title&line2=&bool3=AND&field3=article&line3=flame%20retardants> , polyurethane foam <http://pubs.acs.org/iapps/wld/cen/results.html?sortBy=date&field1=author&line1=&bool2=AND&field2=title&line2=&bool3=AND&field3=article&line3=polyurethane%20foam> , baby products <http://pubs.acs.org/iapps/wld/cen/results.html?sortBy=date&field1=author&line1=&bool2=AND&field2=title&line2=&bool3=AND&field3=article&line3=baby%20products> , TDCPP <http://pubs.acs.org/iapps/wld/cen/results.html?sortBy=date&field1=author&line1=&bool2=AND&field2=title&line2=&bool3=AND&field3=article&line3=TDCPP> , PentaBDE <http://pubs.acs.org/iapps/wld/cen/results.html?sortBy=date&field1=author&line1=&bool2=AND&field2=title&line2=&bool3=AND&field3=article&line3=PentaBDE> 
Latest News

May 18, 2011
Fire Retardants In Baby Products May Pose Health Risks <http://pubs.acs.org/cen/news/89/i21/8921scene3.html> 
Toxic Substances: Infants may be exposed to high levels of a toxic fire retardant.
The Waiting Game <http://pubs.acs.org/cen/news/89/i21/8921notw.html> 
Research Funding: NSF Chemistry Division remains in limbo as details of 2011 budget are still being worked out.
May 17, 2011
Natural Halogenated Compound Found In Wild Boar Meat  <http://pubs.acs.org/cen/news/89/i21/8921scene2.html> 
Natural Products: Fungi chemical could aid understanding of halogenated pollutants.
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The first investigation of halogenated fire retardants in baby products has revealed that infants are exposed to multiple retardants, including one at levels higher than deemed acceptable by a federal consumer protection agency (Environ. Sci. Technol., DOI: 10.1021/es2007462 <http://pubs.acs.org/cgi-bin/cen/trustedproxy.cgi?redirect=http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/es2007462> ).
Little information has been available about the identity or concentration of fire retardants that manufacturers add to baby products to prevent or slow burning. Inspired by her first pregnancy, in 2009, Heather Stapleton <http://fds.duke.edu/db/Nicholas/esp/faculty/stapleto>  of Duke University's Nicholas School of the Environment <http://www.nicholas.duke.edu/>  led a team that tested baby products for the presence of the retardants. They chose to examine products that contain polyurethane foam because they knew that manufacturers often add relatively high concentrations of flame retardants to foams. These chemicals can also escape readily from foams.
Stapleton and her team collected baby products samples from volunteers in 13 states. The researchers found fire retardants in the foam of 80 of the 101 products they tested, including car seats, changing table pads, sleep positioners, mattresses, and nursing pillows. Gas chromatography and mass spectrometry data suggested that some of the flame retardants may have decomposed during the analysis, so the researchers confirmed their findings with high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with high resolution mass spectrometry.
They found tris (1,3-dichloroisopropyl) phosphate (TDCPP) <http://webbook.nist.gov/cgi/cbook.cgi?ID=13674-87-8&Units=SI>  the most often, in 36% of the products. TDCPP is a retardant that children's pajama makers discontinued using in the 1970's due to concerns about mutagenicity (Science, DOI: 10.1126/science.347576 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.347576> ). Recent tests suggest that TDCPP may also have neurotoxic properties (Toxicol. Appl. Pharmacol., DOI: 10.1016/j.taap.2011.01.005 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.taap.2011.01.005> ). The researchers found the retardant at levels of up to 12% by weight of foam.
Stapleton's team estimated that infants' exposure to TDCPP may exceed the Consumer Product Safety Commission <http://www.cpsc.gov/> 's acceptable daily intake levels. In a written statement, the consumer agency commented that TDCPP "may pose a significant health risk to consumers."
The researchers also detected milligram per gram of foam levels of eight other flame retardant chemicals, including the compounds associated with the fire retardant mixtures known as Firemaster 550 <http://www.pu2pu.com/htdocs/customers/greatlakes/firemaster.htm>  flame and PentaBDE <http://pubs.acs.org/cgi-bin/cen/trustedproxy.cgi?redirect=http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/es060630m> , the latter of which the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants <http://chm.pops.int/Implementation/NewPOPs/The9newPOPs/tabid/672/language/en-US/Default.aspx>  banned in 2009. Recent research has linked children's exposure to some PentaBDE compounds to neurodevelopmental impairments (Environ. Health Perspect., DOI: 10.1289/ehp.0901340 <http://ehp03.niehs.nih.gov/article/fetchArticle.action?articleURI=info%3Adoi%2F10.1289%2Fehp.0901340>  and DOI: 10.1289/ehp.0901015 <http://ehp03.niehs.nih.gov/article/info:doi/10.1289/ehp.0901015> ) and other health effects (Epidemiology, DOI: 10.1097/01.ede.0000362982.21438.3d <http://journals.lww.com/epidem/Fulltext/2009/11001/Maternal_PBDE_Exposure_and_Time_to_Pregnancy.242.aspx> ).
Stapleton and her colleagues also identified two organophosphate flame retardants, one of which, tris (2-chloroethyl) phosphate (TCEP) <http://monographs.iarc.fr/ENG/Monographs/vol71/mono71-114.pdf> , is a compound some research suggests could be carcinogenic.
Adrian Covaci <http://www.ua.ac.be/main.aspx?c=adrian.covaci>  of the University of Antwerp's Toxicological Center <http://www.ua.ac.be/main.aspx?c=*TOXICO>  suggests that babies may be exposed mainly via inhalation to the chemicals reported in the paper. As a result, babies would have proportionately greater exposure to the more volatile compounds, including TDCPP and TCEP, than to heavier brominated compounds.
In a written statement, the American Chemistry Council comments, "This study attempts to examine the existence of certain flame retardants in a small sampling of children's products; it does not address exposure or risk."
But Stapleton's results concern Linda Birnbaum <http://www.niehs.nih.gov/about/od/director/index.cfm> , director of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences <http://www.niehs.nih.gov/> , because infants are particularly vulnerable to chemical exposure and because babies spend much of their time next to foam products. Of the retardants in the tested products, only PentaBDE is known to impact people. But some of the others cause health problems in animals, she says.
To co-author Tom Webster <http://sph.bu.edu/index.php?option=com_sphdir&id=239&Itemid=340&INDEX=701>  of Boston University's School of Public Health <http://sph.bu.edu/> , the paper's findings highlight the U.S. government's reliance on academic scientists to discover toxic chemicals in consumer products and to work out the resulting health risks. The process is not swift, he says. As a result, consumers of all ages can be exposed to substances that may harm their health, he laments.

Deborah L. DeBiasi
Email:   Deborah.DeBiasi at deq.virginia.gov
WEB site address:  www.deq.virginia.gov
Virginia Department of Environmental Quality
Office of Water Permit and Compliance Assistance Programs
Industrial Pretreatment/Whole Effluent Toxicity (WET) Program
PPCPs, EDCs, and Microconstituents 
www.deq.virginia.gov/vpdes/microconstituents.html
Mail:          P.O. Box 1105, Richmond, VA  23218
Location:  629 E. Main Street, Richmond, VA  23219
PH:         804-698-4028      FAX:      804-698-4032

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