Study finds flame retardant in breast milk

PORTLAND – When Tammi Keller had her daughter, she chose to breast-feed her because that was the healthiest thing she thought she could do for her baby. She never imagined there could be anything bad in her breast milk.

So she was shocked to find out she had high levels of a toxic flame retardant known as PBDEs (polybrominated diphenyl ethers) when she participated in a study conducted by the Seattle-based Northwest Environmental Watch.

“It’s scary when you look at it. I thought I was giving my daughter the best thing I could give her, but it wasn’t as perfect as I thought it was,” said Keller, 24, of Portland. “As a mom, it was kind of sad because it’s my job to protect my daughter, but when it comes to these chemicals, I have no control over it.”

Northwest Environmental Watch tested the breast milk of 40 women from Oregon, Washington, Montana and British Columbia, and found the PBDEs in every woman tested.

A series of studies last year showed American women have the world’s highest levels of the bromine-based fire retardants, nearing levels that have been shown to damage learning, memory and behavior in laboratory mice.

Despite the results, Clark Williams-Derry, research director for Northwest Environmental Watch, said breast-feeding is still the best thing new mothers can do for their infants, and can reduce children’s risk of illness, among other advantages.

Researchers aren’t certain how women absorb PBDEs, a persistent organic pollutant that can remain in the environment for years without breaking down. But researchers have called for more detailed investigations, and further bans on the compound.

California last summer became the first state to ban two forms of the fire retardant compound. The European Union has also banned a third form of the chemical, which isn’t as readily absorbed by the body.

The median concentration found in the Northwest study was 50 parts per billion, with individual levels ranging from 6 to 321 parts per billion. The lowest levels were found in women from British Columbia, while the highest levels were found in Oregon women. That compares with a median 1.3 parts per billion found in Japanese blood samples in 2000, and a median 2.1 parts per billion found in Swedish breast milk in 2001.

“The most important message that comes out of the data is that everybody, every woman we tested in the Pacific Northwest, had contamination in their body. So contamination is probably ubiquitous,” Williams-Derry said. “That means it’s difficult to determine strategies to control (exposure to) it.”

David Stone, a public health toxicologist with the Oregon Department of Human Services, said those countries that have phased out PBDEs show lower concentrations of the chemical.

“That says to me that if you want to reduce the chance of a chemical building up in someone’s body, then regulatory standards and controls are needed,” he said. “We don’t fully understand the full toxic possibilities of these chemicals.”