Study finds flame-retardant chemical in U.S. breast milk

[davidinalameda]

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2003/09/23/MN285358.DTL

A common chemical flame retardant was found in the breast milk of 20 U. S. women at levels that were much higher than those found in European women, according to a study by an environmental advocacy group.

The report by the Environmental Working Group recommends that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency ban the use of PBDEs, or polybrominated diphenyl ethers, some of which are already prohibited in the European Union.

[sphbecker]

1. That could be useful

[leftchick]

2. really?

how? please explain....

[sphbecker]

16. Well you could...

never mind, I will stop now. I was JOKING!

[Zhade]

3. Yikes! Asbreastos?

NT!

[LifeDuringWartime]

7. ROFL

good one

[Caution]

4. I just can't help myself...

and the guy on Queer eyes for the Straight guy who wears the glasses says:

"biiiitch, i just knew there was a reason that i wasn't into breasts!"


sorry i know....but it just popped into my head...and i couldnt let it go.

For the record I know a lot of gay men who would simply love this bad joke :)

[kodi]

5. you know why don't you? PBDEs were banned in europe years ago.

as were almost all halogenated FR products.

the replacements are more expensive and companies like Great Lakes Chemicals lobbied damn hard this spring to prevent decabromodiphenyloxide from getting on the hit list from the CA legislature.

alternative materials are more expensive, and since use levels of the flame retardant materials into other products raises costs only a percentage point or 2, no one wants to voluntarily switch over to the safer products sold in europe for years.

ask me how i know all this......

its what i do for a living.

[jus_the_facts]

6. Really....and Rocket Fuel found in Milk in Texas...and Lettuce in Cali....

....been bitching and crying about the enviornment on a thread in GD about the Rocket Fuel....but nobody seems to give a damn about these issues much anymore....as I stated there...NO OTHER ISSUES ARE MORE IMPORTANT THAN THE ENVIORNMENT...for if that goes then ALL OTHER ISSUES BECOME MUTE....AS DO WE AS A SPECIES....so just ignore this and my other comments too....it'll all work itself out huh....NOT!!:grr: :mad: :evilfrown: :eyes: :puke:

[LifeDuringWartime]

8. is that real

rock fuel in milk? i thought milk was good for you :tinfoilhat:

[leftchick]

9. for real....here is the link....

http://www.ewg.org/issues/perchlorate/20030919/

thanks to donsu who posted this in GD!

[Zhade]

10. Milk - it does a rocket engine good!

NT!

[salin]

11. ew... what are the chances that in the same day we learn of

rocket fuel in shelved milk, and fire retardent chemicals in breast milk. How bizarre is that - I mean it would be odd if it were things like mercury and valium (that is - completely unrelated)... but this is like turpentine in one and paint in the other.

I can't help it - the irony is too much... my brain just leapt to old SAT or GED analogy pairs...

[enki23]

12. all sorts of shit ends up in breast milk

if it's at least somewhat fat soluble, and it's in the body, then it'll probably be in there. if it's *very* fat soluble (like all sorts of the nastiest stuff out there) then there'll beven more of it in the breast milk. and if it can mimic calcium, like lead, then there'll be a bunch in the breast milk. especially when you're mobilizing bone calcium (and lead) to make the milk in the first place. etc. etc.

milk is only as good for you as the body it came from. maybe less.

can't stand the stuff, personally. but that's just a taste aversion. i love nearly every dairy product i've ever had, except straight milk.

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

13. Part of the Bush Plan to reduce the incidence of spontaneous combustion.

And it works. How many spontaneous combustions have you seen since Bush was appointed King?

Just like no terrorist attacks on US soil (forget the anthrax) means Bush's war on terrorism is working.

[RainDog]

17. dang. you beat me to it.

I was gonna say that I could maybe take some comfort that when I was breastfeeding my sons there was no chance they would spontaneously combust.

actually, where I live everyone is probably full of pcbs.

and now the Bush govt has made it possible to build on that pcb land without informing people who might buy it!

I read that one guy who has a top soil or compost biz had bought land by a pcb site. great. makes me want to eat veggies out of my garden. yummmmm-eee.

[Stuckinthebush]

14. Wow...this makes formula look better and better!

I have always wondered about any digested chemicals that may be in breast milk, and their effect on a child who is breast fed.

[JPace]

15. "Wow...this makes formula look better and better!"

Chemicals are found in cows and cows milk too. There is
no escape for anyone. Bill Moyers did a show on how the
chemical companies are poisoning all of us. He had a blood
test that showed something like 150 chemicals in his blood
that were not supposed to be there. We all have them. That
is why the chemical companies won't let any legislation
pass that will study how these chemicals are affecting us.

We are all being poisoned but legally our government is
turning its back on us because they are bought and paid
for by the chemical companies.
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/story.jsp?story=445464

The link will tell you how the chemical companies and the bush
regime are trying to stop Europe from testing chemicals as
possible allergins. They don't want us to know the truth.
It would mean more regulations and lawsuits and accountability.
Dow and Monsanto do not want any of that.

Notice that the link is for a foreign newslink. Our news media
will not touch this until they are forced to. Notice that the
breast milk study is done by a private organization. Our
government will not touch this until they are forced to.

[TeeYiYi]

18. Somebody please help me understand this . . .

I read the entire story trying to figure out how the flame retardant is getting into breast milk and for some reason I don't get it. Are all people in the United States being exposed to it through exposure to household items such as furniture and curtains, etc. or is it specific to women living close to the plants that create the fire retardant? If everyone is being exposed vs. the proximity to chemical plants theory, are we breathing it in? Touching it? Is it coming off the clothes we wear? Jumping off my computer screen? . . . HELP.

I will greatly appreciate anyone willing to put 2 and 2 together for me.

TYY:shrug:

[JPace]

19. "Will somebody help me understand this"

http://www.ewg.org/

• Study urges chemical ban, but
says breastfeeding is still best for baby and mom

23 SEPT 2003 | In the first nationwide tests for chemical fire retardants in the breast milk of American mothers, EWG found unexpectedly high levels of these little-known thyroid toxins in every woman tested. Milk from several of the mothers in EWG’s study had among the highest levels of these chemicals yet detected worldwide.

Like their long-banned chemical relatives PCBs, brominated fire retardants — used in hundreds of products including computers, TVs, cars and furniture — persist in the environment for decades and build up in people’s bodies over a lifetime. While dozens of earlier studies have linked chemical fire retardants to adverse health effects, EWG has conducted the first nationwide test for the presence of the chemicals in people.

• Read news release
• Read online report
• News coverage: USA TODAY, CNN, SF Chronicle