BACKGROUND Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) are ubiquitous environmental contaminants that may influence growth and development. OBJECTIVE We investigated the association between exposure to PBDEs via breast milk and anthropometric measurements in early childhood. METHODS The Pregnancy Infection and Nutrition (PIN) Babies studies followed a cohort of North Carolina pregnant women and ...

The elution order of 126 polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDE) was determined for seven different gas chromatographic (GC) stationary phases. The resulting database facilitates selection of the most suitable GC columns for developing a quantitative, congener-specific BDE analysis and the testing of retention prediction algorithms based on structure relationships of GC phases and congener substi...

Organic flame retardants (OFRs) such as polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) and novel halogenated flame retardants (NHFRs) are ubiquitous, persistent, and bioaccumulative contaminants that have been used in consumer goods to slow combustion. In this study, polyethylene passive samplers (PEs) were deployed throughout the lower Great Lakes (Lake Erie and Lake Ontario) to measure OFRs in air an...

In general terms, BFRs are a controversial group of chemicals. Flame retardants protect lives by increasing fire safety, but at the same time, several of the BFRs are regarded as concerning environmental contaminants. These include polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), tetrabromobisphenol A (TBBPA) and hexabromocyclododecane (HBCD). The reasons for concern about BFRs are observed or suspected...

A rapid determination of decabromodiphenyl ether (DeBDE) in polystyrene (PS) by thermal desorption (TD)-GC/MS was studied. The TD-GC/MS method using a pyrolysis-GC/MS system allowed the quick quantification of DeBDE in a waste TV back plate composing of a PS flame-retarded with polybrominated diphenyl ethers on the basis of the resulting chromatogram with a ca. 4% relative standard deviation wi...

Eleven house dust samples were collected in Beijing to quantify 42 different polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs). Total PBDEs concentrations ranged from 140 to 1,300 ng g(-1). The dominant PBDEs congener identified was BDE 209, which made up more than 70% of all PBDEs congeners. Concentrations of PBDEs in Chinese house dust were lower than in other countries. The most polluted areas were ele...

The polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) are bioaccumulative, persistent, and toxic. They have a high risk of emission into the environment via volatile losses and diffuse sources, such as commercial product disposal or the use of sewage sludge. The PBDEs’ congeners were analyzed in municipal waste water treatment plant (WWTP) sludge, river and lake water, sediment, and fish samples, to inves...

Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) are brominated flame retardants (BFRs) which have routinely been added to consumer products for several decades in a successful effort to reduce fire-related injury and property damage. Recently, concern for this emerging class of chemicals has risen because of their occurrence and observed increasing temporal trends in the environment and in human biota. ...

Sierra Legal is filing this Notice of Objection on behalf of the David Suzuki Foundation, Environmental Defence, and the Canadian Environmental Law Association, pursuant to sections 332(2) and 333 of the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999 to the Minister of the Environment, the Hon. John Baird, with respect to the proposed Polybrominated Diphenyl Ethers Regulations. The proposed regula...