Flame retardants and environmental justice: Lower income households have higher exposure

Are PBDEs an environmental equity concern?
Exposure disparities by socioeconomic status

Ami R. Zota, Gary Adamkiewicz, Rachel A. Morello-Frosch
Environ. Sci. Technol., Article ASAP, DOI: 10.1021/es101723d, Pub Date (Web): June 28, 2010

PBDE exposures are not homogenous across diverse groups. A review finds higher exposures among young children compared to adults and higher exposures among U.S. residents (notably Californians) compared to Europeans. A third group disparity, highlighted in a recent commentary by Zota et al. in ES & T, is higher body burdens among people of lower socioeconomic status.

The authors point to several studies which have documented higher flame retardant levels among populations with lower household income, and populations with lower educational attainment: as well as non-White racial and ethnic groups,

1) In 2008, Zota et al. found that individuals residing in lower income households (<$20,000/year) had significantly higher PBDE exposures compared to those from higher income households.

2) This year, Rose et al. found higher PBDE body burden levels in children born to mothers with lower educational attainment(less than a college degree versus college degree or above).

3) Also this year, Windham et al. found that among an ethnically diverse population of 6-8 year old girls in California and Ohio found, girls with higher educated caregivers had lower penta-BDE levels. The authors also found that Black girls had significantly higher levels of PBDEs than White girls with Hispanics having intermediate values and Asians having the lowest values.

4) In 2008, Sjodin et al. examined differences in PBDE exposure by race/ethnicity and found that levels of certain penta-BDE congeners were significantly lower in Whites compared to Mexican Americans and Blacks.

The authors note the vulnerability of these communities and recommend further research:
"Given that PBDEs exposures may be higher among lower income populations and have the ability to disrupt the thyroid system, future studies should evaluate the impact of these exposures on thyroid-mediated health end points, such as preterm birth and hyptertension, where there is a persistence of socioeconomic status health disparities"

The full commentary can be accessed at the following link:
http://pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10.1021/es101723d