Poisoned plastic threat to babies

By Jenny Hope and David Derbyshire Copyright 1998 The Daily Mail (London) August 18, 1998

POLLUTANT chemicals found in television sets, phones and computers could be causing brain damage in children, it was claimed last night.

Two studies suggest that the chemicals, used to make flame-retardant plastics, may passed on to babies through mothers' breast milk.

The pollutants are thought enter the environment when electrical goods are thrown away and incinerated.

Environmentalists described the flame retardants as a 'ticking timebomb' and called on the Government to ban them.

The scare centres on brominated flame retardants (BFRs) - a family of chemicals blended with plastics and commonly found in printed circuit boards, casings and some textiles.

Once the circuit boards and plastics have been burned or buried, the pollutant chemicals are carried by air, soil or water. It is believed they can also enter the food chain through crops and livestock.

Scientists will tell an international conference this week that BFRs have been found to damage the developing brains of newborn mice.

Litters fed with the poisonous chemical suffer memory loss, learning difficulties and permanent behaviour problems, claim researchers from Uppsala University in Sweden.

Two further studies from Swedish food researchers found that breast milk was contaminated with one commonly-used chemical, poly-brominated diphenylether (PBDE). They also found a rising trend over the past 25 years with levels of PBDE increasing more than 50 times.

It was higher in smokers.

Friends of the Earth last night called for all BFRs to be phased out.

Spokesman Dr Michael Warhurst said: 'This disturbing research suggests that common chemicals, which can even contaminate breast milk, could be damaging the development of our children's minds.

'Breast milk is an important source of nutrition and health for babies, therefore Friends of the Earth advise that mothers should continue to breast feed.

However, the Government must act urgently to ban such chemicals and reduce this risk.' Although the milk of British mothers has not been studied for BFRs, an investigation by the Department of Health last year confirmed that breast-feeding women were passing on other environmental pollutants to their infants.But despite the higher than recommended 'tolerable daily intake', the Chief Medical Officer said it was still too low to cause any damage to babies and urged mothers not to stop breast feeding.

One group of chemicals involved in last year's alert, known as PCBs, are similar to the BFRs.

Until they were banned in the 1970s, PCBs were used to make electrical transistors found in TV sets and radios.

Both chemicals 'hang around' in the food chain and are virtually impossible to destroy and avoid, says Friends of the Earth. They also accumulate in human and animal fat.

A study earlier this year found that BFRs contaminated the blubber of sperm whales living in the remote, deep waters of the Atlantic.

A draft EU directive, Waste from Electrical and Electronic Equipment, calls for a ban, but the manufacturers of BFRs are determined to continue using them, says Friends of the Earth.

The findings were unveiled at a major international conference organised by the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency in Stockholm.

A Department of the Environment spokesman said: 'A full risk assessment of these chemicals is currently under way in the UK and France.

'These new findings will be considered as part of this process.'

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