Search Results for "flame"

“It’s maddening to find current-use brominated flame retardants in breast milk, 20 years after contamination with PBDEs rang alarm bells,” Erika Schreder, the study’s co-author, wrote in a post on Toxic-Free Future.

Erika Schreder, the lead author of the breast milk study, says the research highlights the need to develop legislation to prevent future use of toxic chemicals in lieu of banned chemicals.

The chemicals are thought to be potent neurotoxins, especially for developing children, and the findings are “disturbing”, said Erika Schreder, a toxicologist with Toxic Free Future and a study co-author. “The production and use of these compounds continues, and they are likely to impact children’s health until governments require companies to end their use and switch to safer solutions,” the study’s authors wrote.

“Our results show that when we prohibit the use of persistent toxic chemicals like PBDEs, we make breast milk safer for babies,” said Erika Schreder, study co-author and science director at Toxic Free Future, a group that has advocated for new regulation of industry and consumer products. “But it’s disturbing to find that the replacement chemicals are now building up in breast milk.”

Our new research found that actions taken on PBDEs worked—levels in the Northwest declined by 70% since they were last measured 20 years ago. However, some of the same new flame retardants we found in televisions also contaminated nearly all the breast milk samples.

A new study authored by Toxic-Free Future, Emory University, and Seattle Children’s Research Institute has found toxic flame retardants in the breast milk of U.S. moms. Companies continue to use hormone-disrupting flame retardants in products like televisions despite research showing these chemicals build up in people. But some states and retailers are taking action to move to safer solutions.

From phones to TVs, computers, tablets, and game consoles, most people are using multiple electronic devices daily. And for decades, electronics makers have been putting harmful chemicals into the plastic casings of these products in the name of fire safety. [...]

Best Buy has announced a major new commitment to safer products: all newly designed models of Best Buy’s Exclusive Brand televisions (such as Insignia) will no longer contain toxic organohalogen flame retardants (OFRs) in the display enclosures and stands, starting this year.