PBDE and You and Everyone We Know

Last March we were trying to keep a stiff upper lip as we informed you that the bill banning PBDEs, a wily fire-retardant chemical, had been stifled for another year.

PBDEs are tricky because while they should just sit there and avoid catching fire, it turns out they display a proclivity for striking out on their own, and have been busy making their homes in people, even in breast milk. This is a red flag because PBDEs are associated with developmental disorders in young'uns. Could there be a link between this story and this story on the Spokane River's toxicity ("We're #1!"):

Fish in the Spokane River had between 100 and 1,000 times higher levels of PBDEs than fish sampled in other state waterways, including Lake Washington and the Columbia River, according to a 2005 study by the Department of Ecology.

This year, the news on the ban is much better (unless you're Brad Tower, a lobbyist working for the Bromine Science and Environmental Forum, an alliance of PBDE makers).

With concerns about finding toxic chemicals from the retardants -- known as PBDEs -- in everything from breast milk to brown bears, the proposed ban passed out of a House committee and appeared headed for passage in both chambers.

"This bill is on fire," said Sen. Erik Poulsen, D-West Seattle, chairman of the committee working on a similar bill. The measure's quick progress this year comes after two years of debate and opposition by chemical companies that spent more than $107,000 lobbying the Legislature last year.

The ban is getting a boost, reports the Seattle Times, from Governor Gregoire's threat to ground the legislature unless the Puget Sound is tidied up. PBDEs being a leading element in the Sound's pollution, the ban and clean-up seem to go hand-in-hand. The clean won't happen overnight: if the ban goes into effect, it will first apply to mattresses in 2008, and broaden its reach in 2011. Since PBDEs are a persistent toxin, we can look forward to its effects making news for years.