I would like to thank Chairman Martin, Chairman Koffman and distinguished members of the Natural Resources Committee for the chance to testify in favor of LD 1790, An Act to Reduce Contamination of Breast Milk and the Environment from the Release of Brominated Chemicals in Consumer Products. Environment Maine is a statewide environmental group working for clean air, clean water and open spaces by researching problems, advocating solutions and educating and involving the public.
Environment Maine fully supports the labeling, quick phasing out and banning of toxic brominated flame retardants in consumer products in Maine in favor of safer alternatives. Taking action now will decrease their build up in the environment and in our bodies and safeguard us against the health impacts from the buildup of toxic brominated flame retardants, specifically polybrominated diphenyl ethers. In light of our society’s experience with PCBs, we know enough to take action now, rather than waiting for the consequences to appear in the next generation of our children and in our environment.
Tomorrow our sister organization, Environment Maine Research & Policy Center, will release their new report, Body of Evidence: New Science in the Debate Over Toxic Flame Retardants and Our Health, making the case that Deca threatens the health of Americans and is symptomatic of a widespread failure to effectively regulate toxic chemicals in the U.S. The report highlights research about the health effects of poly-brominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), particularly decabrominated diphenyl ether (Deca), Deca’s presence in the environment and our bodies, and the breakdown of Deca into the more easily assimilated pentabrominated diphenyl ethers and octabrominated diphenyl ethers. Maine has the chance to stop PBDEs from completely polluting our environment and our bodies by banning the sale of products containing PBDEs, requiring labeling and establishing state-level monitoring of the chemicals.
Briefly, Deca is a common flame retardant used in hundreds of consumer products from cell phones to computers to televisions to upholstery. Deca has been detected in the breast milk of American women at higher levels than anywhere else in the world, and has been linked in laboratory tests to neurological effects such as permanent memory loss. Here are more reasons, embargoed until our report release tomorrow, to pass a ban on toxic PBDEs (LD 1790):
Deca is pervasiveDeca is one type of flame retardant called polybrominated diphenyl ethers or PBDEs. North American industry used more than 49 million pounds of Deca in 2001, which is far greater than half the world market for Deca. Deca is not chemically bound to the products it is used in and, as such, leaches out into water and air over time. People may be exposed to Deca in numerous ways. Scientists have found Deca in household dust, in both indoor and outdoor air, as well as in our food supply, especially in fish and dairy products. Scientists now know that Deca is also accumulating in our bodies. Scientific studies released this year found high levels of Deca in women’s breast milk.
Deca is dangerousScientists have linked Deca to serious health consequences in the lab, mostly due to its interference with thyroid hormone levels. Exposure to Deca, especially in utero and in early infancy, has been found to cause neurological impairment in laboratory mice that was both permanent and worsened with age. In addition, one early government study found a possible connection between exposure to low doses of Deca and cancer.
Also, when products containing Deca are burned in an incinerator or a house fire, they release significant amounts of dioxins and furans, which are among the most toxic and dangerous compounds ever created. This property has led a few companies to voluntarily phase out their use in products. Ericsson, for example, has created a line of cell phones with no brominated flame retardants in its circuit breakers.
Deca creates other dangerous PBDEsIn addition to being bio-accumulative and connected to serious health effects, a third property of Deca points to the need for a widespread ban of the chemical. Under normal conditions, Deca easily breaks down into two related chemicals, octabrominated diphenyl ether, or Octa, and pentabrominated diphenyl ether, or Penta, which were recently banned in California. These new studies point to a possible reason why the two other types of flame retardants are found most often in people’s bodies, even though Deca is the most widely used PBDE.
That Deca breaks down in fish and in sunlight points to a host of additional health concerns. Scientists have done extensive health effects testing of Penta and Octa. In laboratory tests, scientists found immune system impairment, which increases susceptibility to infectious diseases. In addition, just this year scientists documented reproductive damage from low dose exposure, such as delayed onset of puberty in both males and females, as well as impaired development of reproductive organs.
Clearly, the fact that Deca breaks down into chemicals that have already been banned, accumulates in our bodies on its own, and has been linked to a series of serious health consequences, are cause for a quick phase out and ban.
We cannot sit back while the levels of Deca, a toxic flame retardant, continue to rise in our bodies: Deca should be phased out immediately. In addition, we cannot repeat the colossal mistake of PCBs in the 60s and 70s, or PBDEs now. Fortunately, Maine has the opportunity to take action to protect our health and environment, but in the future, Congress and EPA should require extensive health testing of chemicals by industry before exposing the public to them and should protect us from any chemicals that are found to potentially cause harm.
Thank you,
Matthew Davis
Advocate
Environment Maine
