This California news story has significance in Michigan, which has banned the same two flame retardants but has no real means of verifying compliance with the ban. Two researchers recently consulted in Michigan say they are finding startlingly high levels of these compounds in Great Lakes fish and sediments. And it's undoubtedly present in us, too.
WITH LESS than a year before California's ban on a class of flame retardants takes effect, no substantive discussions at any level of state government are taking place on how to enforce it, according to interviews with regulators at various levels in several agencies.
The banned compounds, two flame retardants within a class of chemicals known as polybrominated diphenyl ethers, or PBDEs, are extremely effective at stopping fire in foam and certain plastics. But they also are potent neurotoxins and, in animals, disrupt thyroid activity at low levels.
Studies show increasing contamination of the blood of almost every U.S. adult, with levels 10 to 100 times higher than elsewhere in the world,near concentrations causing harm in animals. California, with some of the most stringent fire safety standards in the world, has proven to be a particular hot spot. http://insidebayarea.com/argus/localnews/ci_2866424
Posted by Dave at July 19, 2005 09:04 AM