Banning Flame Retardants
April 5, 2008
Flame retardants may be making you, your kids and, especially, your cat, sick.
A few years ago a study on flameretardents found in a host of common materials were causing illness.
polybrominated diphenyl ether ( or PBDE) compounds are turning up at tremendously high levels in cats. Apparently due to ol puss lyining on the couch, the carpets, on top of you monitor and then grooming the stuff right into their system.
PBDEs are determined by the EPA to impair thyroid functioning. They’ve been used s as flame retardants in household products like furniture, carpet padding, and electronics since the 70’s.
While it may be incidental that thyroid problems ( feline hyperthyroidism) has dramatically increased since then, a study by the American Chemical Society thinks it may be no co-incidence.
Pead the study summary) PBDEs are known to impair thyroid functioning. They have been used since the late 1970s as flame retardants in household products, including upholstered furniture, carpet padding, and electronics. During that same time period, the incidence of a cat thyroid ailment, known as feline hyperthyroidism, has risen dramatically.
Read the study summary here:
The study says” We hypothesized that increases in FH were, in part, related to increased PBDE exposure, with key routes of exposure being diet and ingestion of house dust.” In part, and the study leads us to think that maybe our cats are serving as the proverbial canary in the coal mine?
Oh and of course it’s not just the cats. What about junior who puts everything in his mouth and spends the day crawling in the dust bunnies?
Again from the study “young children are exposed to far more dust than older people. Cats’ meticulous and continuous grooming habits could conceivably result in PBDE uptake similar to what toddlers are exposed to through their increased contact with floors and “mouthing” behaviors”.
So what to do what to do?
the European Union banned the use of PBDEs in 2003. California’s ban goes into effect in 2008, and Washington state has banned it too.
See what the David Suzuki Foundation is recommending.
Dowload this PDF of smart shoppers guide to non-PBDE products and get the PDBE’s out of your house.
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