Flame Retardant Study Raises Red Flags for Health Risk

By JOHN RICHARDSON Staff Writer

Maine may become one of the first states to crack down on a common flame retardant chemical that is found in household dust and, according to researchers and state officials, may be affecting how children’s brains develop.

The chemical, known as deca-BDE, is the last of a group of brominated flame retardants that were added to TV sets, computers, furniture and other consumer goods starting in the 1970s. Two others, penta-BDE and octa-BDE, were banned by the Legislature in 2004 and have since been taken off the market because of potential toxic effects.

Maine’s Department of Environmental Protection issued a report to the Legislature last week calling for a phaseout of deca in residential products such as the plastic casings on many televisions. A handful of other states, including Washington, also are considering bans or phaseouts.

The chemical industry, however, is fighting the efforts, saying alternatives may not provide the same fire safety benefits and could end up being more dangerous to human health.

The DEP report says evidence continues to grow that household dust is not just a nuisance, but also a collector of potentially toxic chemicals. The report cites emerging research from around the world, as well as findings by a University of Southern Maine laboratory in Portland.

Scientists say deca leaches out of the TV sets and other electronic products and attaches to dust. Deca is believed to enter people’s bodies when they breathe in or eat traces of dust, as well as through food containing residues of the chemical, health experts said. It also has been found in the breast milk that mothers feed their babies.

Vincent Markowski, a lead researcher and an associate professor of psychology at USM, said the $17,000 state-financed pilot study is one of the first to raise questions about deca’s toxic effects on humans. It’s findings are consistent with a published study in Europe, and other preliminary research, he said.

"What we’ve found so far suggests that it does have some effects on the nervous system, but there’s just so precious little data," he said. "To me, this is something that should be a concern to humans."

To conduct the study, the USM research team fed varying doses of deca to newborn mice, simulating what a nursing human baby might receive from its mother. Then they put the mice through a series of tests to see how they developed reflexes and coordination and whether their behavior was different from mice that got untainted formula.

Mice that ate deca developed reflexes later and were slower to develop grip strength, among other things, according to the researchers. And, using infrared monitors, they found that adolescent mice that ate deca when they were babies were more likely to be hyperactive than those that didn’t eat deca. The chemical seemed to affect males more than females.

"You don’t have to be eating this stuff throughout your lifetime, because it’s coming at this critical window of development for young kids," said Aleece Herlihy, a psychology student at USM who worked on the study.

The Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention also worked on the study. Results have been presented at scientific conferences, but the detailed findings are still undergoing scientific review and have yet to be published.

A representative for chemical manufacturers defended deca’s safety and said the industry is eager to see more details and evaluate the USM research.

"There’s a variety of questions about how the study was conducted, but until we see the full details it’s hard to be specific about it," said John Kyte, North American program director for the Bromine Science and Environmental Forum, an industry group.

Kyte also said Maine and other states are rushing into the legislation.

"This is one of those cases where the political drive to do something is not supported by the scientific analysis," he said.

The deca compound has been considered safer than the other bromine flame retardants because it is a bigger, less soluble molecule. While the DEP report cites "increasing recognition" that the compound can break down into smaller forms, Kyte said that has not yet been proven.

He argued that restricting deca could lead to the use of more harmful alternatives.

"This is a case of let’s get rid of the known in favor of the unknown. That doesn’t make good common sense or good policy sense," Kyte said. "I think that states need to be careful not to put the cart before the horse."

Alternatives also are unlikely to be as effective at preventing fires, he said. "If you remove deca from the marketplace … you’re going to have more fires. It’s pretty plain and simple."

That also is a concern to John Dean, Maine’s state fire marshal.

"We want to make sure we don’t just throw out an existing technology without making sure we have fire safety in mind," he said. "Obviously, we don’t want to have people losing their property or lives."

Dean worked with the DEP on the report, which says the agency "will not support any alternative that requires fire safety to be compromised."

Research by the DEP found that there are safer alternatives to meet flammability standards for TV sets and other products, according to Commissioner David Littell.

John James, policy director in the DEP’s Bureau of Remediation and Waste Management, said Sony TVs, for example, no longer contain the chemical. "There are TVs on the market now that don’t use deca," he said.

The DEP is recommending a phaseout of deca in TVs sold in Maine by 2012 to allow time for manufacturers to switch production materials. It is proposing a ban on the use of deca in residential mattresses or furniture starting next year because of concerns the manufacturers of those products may use deca to meet new fire safety standards.

The Legislature’s Natural Resources Committee will take up the DEP recommendations, though a public review and hearings have not yet been scheduled.

Meanwhile, the USM research team is monitoring some of the mice in their old age to see whether the deca they ate as babies continues to affect them.

Herlihy nursed her 11-month-old Joseph, and is planning to breast- feed her second child, due in the spring. She dusts her house more often and uses the Internet to look for products that don’t contain deca. But she knows she can’t protect her children entirely.

"I am not manic about it, but I’m mindful," she said.

Staff Writer John Richardson can be contacted at 791-6324 or at:

jrichardson@pressherald.com.