Dangerous chemicals
June 11, 2003

The San Francisco Chronicle

Flame retardants seemed like such a good idea. Used in upholstered furniture, clothing and many other consumer products, they promised to save lives.

But, as it turns out, some of these chemicals, known as polybrominated diphenyl ethers, appear to be endangering lives as well.

PBDEs break down slowly, persist in the environment and accumulate in human and animal fat. San Francisco Bay harbor seals, for example, bear some of the highest levels of PBDEs in the world.

American women, it turns out, have 10 to 70 times more PBDEs in their breast milk, tissues and blood than do women in Europe, where industry has gradually phased the chemicals out. This year, in fact, the European Union banned PBDE compounds.

In March, Environment California published a new study warning of the dangers posed by certain flame retardants to the developing brain of the fetus. Research on infant rats and mice suggests measurable changes in brain development between the third trimester of pregnancy through age 2. Scientists are therefore worried that PBDEs adversely affect the learning ability, memory and behavior of children. Still other researchers wonder if PBDEs, whose levels have doubled in some regions every two to three years, may contribute to breast cancer.

The California Assembly recently voted for legislation, authored by Assemblywoman Wilma Chan, D-Alameda, that would ban the manufacture and sale of products that contain specific PBDEs, beginning in 2008. They could be replaced by flame-retardant chemicals that do not accumulate in the bodily tissues. Although industry opponents say it's premature to ban such chemicals, good environmental health policy -- often called the Precautionary Principle -- suggests that it's better to be safe than sorry.

If the Senate approves a similar bill this summer, the power of the huge California consumer market would invariably force changes throughout the nation, as was the case with automobiles and smog emissions. Once again, California would announce its unequivocal commitment to protecting the health of people, wildlife and the environment.