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Flame Retardent In Breast Milk Raises Concern
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.2004
0607.wxtoxicgt07/BNStory/Front/
By Martin Mittelstaedt
The Globe and Mail
6-7-4
The breast milk of Canadian women contains the second-highest levels in the
world of a compound used as a flame retardant in computer casings and
household furniture, according to a new survey compiled by Health Canada.
The highest amounts of the contaminants, known as polybrominated diphenyl
ethers, or PBDEs, were detected in the milk of nursing U.S. mothers. But women
in Canada had levels about five to 10 times those in other advanced industrial
countries, such as Japan, Sweden, and Germany. The amounts in U.S. women
were double those in Canada, and exceptionally high compared to those elsewhere
in the world.
The international comparison was made by Jake Ryan, a research scientist at
Health Canada, who is presenting the finding later today at a conference in
Toronto devoted to the controversial chemicals, which some scientists fear may
be as dangerous as the polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, that were banned as
an environmental hazard in the 1970s. Health Canada official Samuel Ben
Rejeb said the department is studying why levels in Canadian women are so much
higher than elsewhere in the world. Health Canada and Environment Canada
recommended last month that some forms of PBDEs be declared toxic and eliminated
from use. The European Union has already issued restrictions on the substances,
and several U.S. states plan to follow suit. "This is a poster-child chemical
for something that ought to be zeroed out," says Tom Muir, a researcher at
Environment Canada who has studied PBDEs and is worried they may be contributing
to thyroid disorders and children's health problems.
Continued at:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.2004
0607.wxtoxicgt07/BNStory/Front/
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