PBDEs, Cats, and Children
O.P. (pictured right), one of 11 cats with feline hyperthyroidism tested for PBDEs, had such high levels of the contaminants that he was considered an outlier in the study.
August 22, 2007
New ES&T research (DOI: 10.1021/es0708159) documents that house cats can have extraordinarily high concentrations of polybrominated diphenyl ether (PBDE) flame retardants in their blood. Janice Dye, a veterinary internist at the U.S. EPA’s National Health and Environmental Effects Research Laboratory (NHEERL), and her colleagues say their findings suggest that “chronic [cumulative] low-dose PBDE exposure may be more endocrine-disrupting than would be predicted by most short-term or even chronic PBDE exposure studies in laboratory rodents.” They contend that cats can serve as sentinels for chronic human exposure—of both children and adults—to the persistent, bioaccumulative, and toxic compounds.
PBDEs are known to impair thyroid functioning. They have been used since the late 1970s as flame retardants in household products, including upholstered furniture, carpet padding, and electronics. During that same time period, the incidence of a cat thyroid ailment, known as feline hyperthyroidism, has risen dramatically. “Feline hyperthyroidism . . . was never reported” 35 years ago, but “now it is very common,” explains coauthor Linda Birnbaum, director of NHEERL’s experimental toxicology division. The disease’s cause has been a mystery, Dye says.
PBDE concentrations in blood serum of the 23 house cats participating in the study were 20–100 times higher than the median levels of PBDEs in people living in North America, who have been shown to have the world’s highest human PBDE levels. Eleven of the cats in the study suffered from feline hyperthyroidism, and the study “points the finger at the association” between the endocrine-disrupting compounds and the disease, Dye says.
Read article on the American Chemical Society web site.
