Cousteau: PBDEs: from Killer Whales to unborn children
by Jean-Michel Cousteau
As a result of our investigation into the health of killer whales, we have become urgently concerned about the impact on children and pregnant woman of a class of toxic flame retardant chemicals called PBDEs. Our findings are reported in the two-hour PBS special “Call of the Killer Whale,”
Our concern stems from our discovery that Killer Wales are gravely contaminated with the PBDEs. Ninety-five percent of the entire market for PBDEs is a direct result of a California flammability regulation, Technical Bulletin 117. For the last 30 years, TB117 has mandated the use of these toxic fire retardants in the foam used in furniture and baby products.
We now know that PBDEs leak from these products into household dust. As a result, both orcas and humans have high levels in their bodies. Like their banned predecessor, PCBs, these toxic flame retardants persist in the environment, concentrate over time.
Children, both unborn and growing, are testing positive for PBDEs at alarmingly high levels across the country. The highest levels are in California. PBDE contamination is now found from the Arctic to the Antarctic, and even in octopi 1,000 feet deep.
Scientific studies show there is no protection from these toxic chemicals when they are released during household blazes. In fact, they make fires more toxic by forming deadly gases and soot that are the real killers in most fires.
Women with high levels of flame retardants in their blood take longer to get pregnant and have smaller babies. Children exposed in the womb have lower IQ’s and more attention problems. Studies have linked flame retardants to male infertility, male birth defects and early puberty in girls. A recent study in animals has linked toxic flame retardants to autism.
Ocean Futures Society is launching an international campaign to ban the most toxic flame retardants and to develop safe alternatives when a fire hazard has been demonstrated.
The good news is this past June California Gov. Jerry Brown called for a sweeping overhaul of his state’s 1970s-era flammability standard, a change that could dramatically reduce or eliminate the toxic flame retardant chemicals in sofas, easy chairs and baby products in homes across the nation.
For more information visit oceanfutures.org/action/toxic-flame-retardants
Our PBS special “Jean-Michel Cousteau Ocean Adventures: Call of the Killer” may be viewed at video.pbs.org/video/1099394282. DZ