Arlene Blum, Executive Director of GSP, was chosen as one of the seven women featured in the "Women Who Should be Famous" Dove campaign to inspire young girls.
It might be possible to buy couches without flame retardants in the next year -- and...
Based in part on the hard work of our coalition this April, Austria, Switzerland, Germany, Spain, Finland, France, UK, Italy, Sweden, Greece and the Czech Republic rejected yet another "candle" standard which would have led to flame retardant chemicals in the enclosures around televisions without a fire safety benefit. According to our colleagues at the European Environmental Citizens Organisation for Standardisation,...
The Chicago Tribune just published a riveting four-part exposé of the flame retardant industry. After five years of working to reduce the use of toxic and ineffective flame retardants, we have the game changing news...
"Baby Beluga in the deep blue sea" is born with high levels of furniture flame retardants
A new study from University of Victoria called "Transplacental transfer of polychlorinated biphenyls and polybrominated diphenyl ethers in arctic beluga whales" found the whales transferred about 11% of their polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) and polybrominated diphenyl ether (PBDE) blubber burden to their near-term fetuses. The...
By Brett Israel, Environmental Health News
New research suggests that chemicals - brominated and chlorinated flame retardants - that are added to upholstered furniture and other household items to stop the spread of flames are increasing emissions of two poisonous gases.
"We found that flame retardants have the undesirable effect of increasing the amounts of carbon monoxide and hydrogen cyanide released during combustion," study...
Donna Mensching's informative new study of 72 cats (including my cat Midnight) with abstract below confirmed that domestic cats have high concentrations of the PBDE flame-retardant in their blood. Midnight's blood levels were very high and my house dust at 95mg/g was the highest in this Illinois study.
Donna compared blood levels in healthy and hyperthyroid geriatric cats and found no significant difference. She also found that...
In a paper for the Journal of the American Medical Association, Philippe Grandjean, et al. found that perfluorinated compounds (PFCs) may reduce children's protection from vaccinations. The study, Serum Vaccine Antibody Concentrations in Children Exposed to Perfluorinated Compounds found that these pervasive compounds are found in Teflon coatings, furniture, stain-...
Brominated Flame Retardant Chemical in Soft Drinks
The cloudy look to Fanta Orange, Mountain Dew, or Fresca isn't fruit juice but rather brominated vegetable oils (BVOs), first developed as a flame retardant. Used in about 10% of the soft drinks sold in the USA, BVOs break down into brominated fatty acids which bioaccumulate in body fat with a potential for toxicity. In Europe and Japan, BVOs are not permitted in soft...
By Liza Gross
A 5-month investigation by Environmental Health News reveals that the chemical industry spent at least $23.2 million over the past five years to lobby California officials and donate to campaigns in an effort to defeat bills that would have regulated flame retardants. The four top recipients, three Democrats and one Republican, never voted in favor of any of the five bills. During the years of lobbying, the flame...
In a paper published on line on May 18, 2011 in Environmental Science & Technology, Heather Stapleton and colleagues found that 80% of baby products tested contained toxic or untested flame retardant chemicals. Foam from 100 changing table pads, nursing pillows, car seats, and other baby products were tested. Here are a few of the findings:
• 36% of the baby products contained the same cancer-causing Tris removed from baby pajamas...
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Created 2010