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Scientists from the Berkeley-based California Department of Toxic Substances Control have discovered the world’s highest recorded levels of a recently banned class of fire retardants in the eggs of seabirds that nest along the shores of San Francisco Bay. 

The chemicals, frequently used to reduce the flammability of children’s sleepware, are PBDEs—polybrominated diphenyl ethers—banned from use or sale in California in August, 2003. 

The scientists also discovered that PBDE levels in breast milk samples from American women are 10 to 70 times higher than found in the breast milk of European and Japanese women. 

“Although the toxicity of PBDEs is not fully understood, the chemicals have been shown to harm neurological, hormonal and reproductive development and function in scientific animal studies,” said Angela Blanchette, spokesperson for the DTSC. 

DTSC scientist Jianwen She announced the findings of the three-year study during the International Dioxin Conference currently underway in Berlin. 

She told the conference that seabirds were selected for study because they “are useful for monitoring and assessing ecosystem health because they are high on the marine food web, are long-lived and are generally localized near their breeding sites”—making them “valuable tools in monitoring persistent organic pollutant in the environment.” 

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