From The Guardian UK: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/mar/29/epa-review-flame-retardants-safety
Investigation comes after recent studies linked flame retardants – found in many household items – to serious health risks
Suzanne Goldenberg, US environment correspondent
guardian.co.uk, Friday 29 March 2013
The Obama administration is to review the safety of 20 flame retardants used in a host of common household items, from baby products and children’s pyjamas to sofa cushions.
The review, to be carried out by the Environmental Protection Agency, follows growing concern about the widespread use of such chemicals, after studies linking flame retardants to cancer, lower IQ, developmental problems, and decreased fertility.
“Americans are often exposed to flame retardant chemicals in their daily lives,” the EPA said in its announcement of the risk assessment. “EPA is committed to more fully understanding the potential risks of flame retardant chemicals, taking action if warranted, and identifying safer substitutes when possible.”
Eleven states are considering laws to ban toxic flame retardants, in response to hundreds of studies over the last four decades pointing to the health and environmental dangers.
The chemicals migrate out of household products, and are inhaled as dust, or ingested by young children who put things in their mouths.
They also linger in the environment turning up in the tissue of baby seals and other marine animals.
Campaigners said the announcement by the EPA was an important first step controlling chemicals that have become extraordinarily widespread, despite the dangers.
The Centres for Disease Control recently detected flame retardants in the blood or urine of virtually every person tested for the substances. A study published last month found elevated cancer risks among firefighters exposed to high levels of flame retardants during house fires.
“It’s wonderful progress, but it’s not over,” said Susan Shaw, director of the Marine Environmental Research Institute, who led the study on the California firefighters.
Continue reading at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/mar/29/epa-review-flame-retardants-safety
