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Household Dust Doesn’t Pose a Fire Hazard, So Why Is It Loaded With Flame Retardants?
Janelle Sorensen
Tuesday, June 03, 2008
Ever since I cleaned houses for a living when I first started college, I’ve been a bit of a neatnik. Now, my compulsion for cleanliness has medical justification; common house dust is loaded with chemicals that have been linked to a variety of health and development issues.
One of the most recent reports, Unwelcome Guest: PBDEs in Indoor Dust, reviews the state of research about the flame retardants being found in common household dust, how it might get there, how it’s getting into our bodies, and what it might do to our health and children’s development.
PBDEs in D-U-S-T
Polybrominated Diphenyl Ethers (PBDEs) are bromine-based compounds used as flame retardants in carpets, couches, cars, computers, cell phones, televisions, mattresses, upholstered furniture, carpet padding, and more. There are as many as 209 individual PBDE compounds, and they often occur in mixtures.
The three most widely used mixtures in consumer products are deca-BDE, octa-BDE, and penta-BDE. The octa and penta varieties have been phased out, deca was just banned in the EU, and a number of states have enacted or are considering legislation to regulate or ban deca-BDEs.
But even with bans and restrictions, the persistent nature of these chemicals means they’ll be with us for years. And PBDEs don't stay put. When your kids jump on the bed, they're releasing invisible PBDE particles. When the computer or TV gets hot, more of the little intruders escape. This is how PBDEs end up in house dust.
PBDEs in You and Me
More than 80% of our exposure to PBDEs is from dust, unlike other similar persistent organic pollutants, which we are mainly exposed to through food.
Researchers aren’t clear on how the chemical volatilizes or why exactly it clings to dust. Nor are they certain how the dust ends up in us. Preliminary assumptions are that we unwittingly eat the dust through hand-to-mouth behavior. This would explain in part why younger children have higher levels than adults. In the case of adults, whenever someone bites their nails, smokes a cigarette, or eats finger foods without washing their hands, they are likely consuming PBDEs simultaneously. For small children, if their hand isn’t in their mouth, a potentially dusty toy or other object is, exposing them quietly and constantly to this insidious invader.
These molecular migrants will persist in their bodies though adulthood.
Until recently, brominated flame retardants were considered safe. However, in 1999, Swedish researchers discovered much greater amounts in human breast milk than had been detected twenty-five years earlier. This landmark study led to the regulation and phase out of the chemical and in European countries where PBDE use has been discontinued, the level of PBDEs found in humans is dropping.
Here on the other side of the pond, subsequent studies have found an even sharper rise in U.S. women, leading some researchers to conclude that PBDE levels in North Americans are 10 to 20 times higher than in Europeans and are doubling at a rate of every four to six years. The youngest segment of the population have highest concentrations and initial tests of younger children show levels about 4 times higher than the average adult. Scientists believe that children consume 7 times as much of the chemical due to their hand-to-mouth behavior.
The Health Implications of Eating Your Dust
There is little information on the health effects of PBDEs in humans. Animal studies have shown that PBDEs affect thyroid hormone functions and can impair the developing central nervous system and brain.
Other studies imply that men and women may metabolize the chemical differently. Some researchers believe PBDEs are associated with the rise in thyroid cancers in women which have mirrored an increase of PBDEs in the environment. Thyroid cancer in women is increasing faster than any cancer in women or men.
No one has examined the potential link between the chemical and cancer to date.
We are gambling with a chemical that we know startlingly little about, that’s now ubiquitous in our environment, that builds up and persists in our bodies. According to Myrto Petreas, chief of the California Department of Toxic Substances Control's Environmental Chemistry Branch in Unwelcome Guest: PBDEs in Indoor Dust, “data suggest that millions of Americans could be affected by decisions they made as unwitting consumers over the past several decades.”
And PBDEs aren’t the only chemicals in our dust. 33 PAHs, 30 PCBs, 4 chlorinated pesticides, phthalates, alkylphenols, organotins, perflourinated compounds, and 19 different BFRs have been identified in common household dust.
What you can do today
Wash hands regularly. So you don’t dry out skin, save soap for the post-bathroom and pre-eating washings. Simply rinse with water on a more occasional basis (especially with babies and toddlers that are in mouthing and chewing phases).
Capture the dust. Wipe surfaces with a damp cloth. Wipe hard floors with a damp mop. (You only need to use water for these tasks – save cleansers for deeper cleaning). And vacuum with a HEPA filter regularly. Some experts call for twice weekly eradication of dust, but don’t get neurotic.
Swipe your screens. Some of the most contaminated dust is that found on TV and computer screens. Wipe them regularly and dispose of old electronics responsibly (earth911.org).
Buy non-toxic products. The chemicals in dust come from the chemicals in the products we bring into our homes. Don’t ditch everything you have right now, but replace things responsibly.
Buy local. Some research shows PentaBDE, one of the more toxic forms of PBDE that has been banned in the EU and phased out in the US, is still being produced in China, so furnishings imported from there could be contaminated
Resources:
Unwelcome Guest: PBDEs in Indoor Dust. Environmental Health Perspectives, Volume 116, Number 5, May 2008. http://www.ehponline.org/members/2008/116-5/EHP116pa202PDF.PDF
Sick of Dust: Chemicals in Common Products – A Needless Health Risk in Our Homes. Safer Products Project, March 2005. http://cleanproduction.org/library/Dust%20Report.pdf
