Flame Retardant Health Findings of 2010 and Policy Possibilities for 2011

Dear friend,

Please find below significant research of 2010 linking adverse reproductive, neurological, thyroid, and carcinogenic heath effects with flame retardants used in furniture, baby products, electronics, and buildings.

These findings should help facilitate 2011 changes in policy and practice to reduce the health burden from these chemicals. Please see below for information on how you can support these changes.

Reproductive
Meeker and Stapleton found that house dust concentrations of Chlorinated Tris or TDCPP, currently used in furniture and baby products to meet the California furniture flammability standard TB117, were associated with altered hormone levels and decreased semen quality in men.

Harley et al found women with higher blood levels of pentaBDE, used in furniture before it was banned in 2004, took longer to become pregnant compared with women with lower levels.

Neurological
Herbstman et al. found that pentaBDE levels in umbilical cord blood were associated with reduced IQ and physical development in children.

Thyroid
Chevrier et al. found that increased levels of pentaBDE in pregnant women were inversely associated with TSH levels and that odds of subclinical hyperthyroidism were significantly elevated in participants in the highest quartile of exposure.

Carcinogenic
Hinkson and Whalen found that HBCD (currently used in building insulation) exposure decreased binding function as well as cell-surface marker expression in human natural killer cells, showing that HBCD has the potential to increase cancer incidence and viral infections.

How you can help reduce the use of toxic flame retardants in consumer products:

1) Check out my TEDx talk which briefly summarizes the flame retardant problem and solutions. Please pass this link on: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6IDlb4N-_u4

2) Contact Rebecca ( Rebecca@greensciencepolicy.org) if you’d like to work with the Green Science Policy Institute to change policy and practice around flame retardants to protect health. You can contact decision makers through letters, emails, and personal meetings.

3) We believe 2011 provides a critical opportunity to reduce the use of these chemicals. Please support our work by contributing if you haven't already
http ://greensciencepolicy.org/support-green-science-policy-institute

Or make your check payable to SEE/GSP** and mail to: Green Science Policy Institute, P.O. Box 5455, Berkeley, CA 94705

Thank you so much for your continued interest and support.