Flame retardants found on supermarket shelves

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Flame retardants found on supermarket shelves

 

Flame retardants found on supermarket shelves

A new study has found flame retardant chemicals, called PBDEs, in foods

taken

straight from supermarket shelves in Dallas, Texas, suggesting that food may

be a key source of the contamination measured in people around the world.

The

report, which was published online Sept. 1 by Environmental Science &

Technology, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Chemical Society, the

world´s

largest scientific society, revealed higher levels of flame retardants in

the

foods here than similar market studies from other countries.

 

Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) - used widely as flame-retardant

additives in electronics and in polyurethane foam used for carpet padding,

mattresses, chairs, sofas and other furniture - have been detected in humans

across

the globe, but scientists are not certain how they are getting there.

 

" Our paper is the first U.S. market basket food survey for brominated flame

retardants, " says the study´s lead author Arnold Schecter, M.D., M.P.H., an

environmental health expert at the University of Texas´ School of Public

Health

in Dallas.

 

Schecter and his coworkers tested 32 food samples from three major

supermarket chains in Dallas. " We found PBDE contamination in all food

containing animal

fats, " Schecter says, with the highest levels in fish, followed by meat and

then dairy products. PBDEs are most soluble in fats, so they tend to

accumulate

in animal and human tissues.

 

Only two other similar market basket studies have been done - in Spain and

Japan - and the U.S. levels were higher than both, according to the Texas

study.

 

 

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2004-09/acs-rf090104.php

 

 

 

 

 

 

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