news of the week MAY 23, 201 1 EDITED BY SOPHIA L. CAI & KIMBERLY R. TWAMBLY
consumer agency commented that TDCPP “may pose a significant health risk to consumers.” The researchers also detected eight other flameretardant chemicals at levels of milligrams per gram of foam. These included the compounds associated with HEALTH AND SAFETY: Infants may be the fire-retardant mixtures known as Firemaster 550 and exposed to halogenated compounds pentaBDE; the latter was banned under the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants in 2009. In a written statement, the American Chemistry HE FIRST INVESTIGATION of halogenated fire Council, an industry trade group, comments, “This retardants in baby products has revealed that study attempts to examine the existence of certain infants are exposed to multiple chemicals, inflame retardants in a small sampling of children’s cluding one at levels higher than deemed products; it does not address exposure acceptable by a federal consumer protecor risk.” Cl Cl tion agency (Environ. Sci. Technol., DOI: But Stapleton’s results concern Linda Cl Cl 10.1021/es2007462). S. Birnbaum, director of the National O Little information has been available Institute of Environmental Health SciO P O about the identity or concentration of ences, because infants are particularly fire retardants that manufacturers add vulnerable to chemical exposure and O Cl to baby products to prevent or slow burning. Many such fire retardants Cl cause toxicity in animals. Inspired by TDCPP her first pregnancy, in 2009, Heather M. Stapleton of Duke University’s Nicholas School of the Environment led a team that tested baby products for the presence of the retardants. They chose to examine products that contain polyurethane foam because they knew that manufacturers often add to the foams relatively high concentrations of flame retardants. These chemicals can also escape readily from these foams. Stapleton and her team collected samples of baby products from volunteers in 13 states. The researchers found fire retardants in the foam of 80 of the 101 products they tested, including car seats, changingtable pads, sleep positioners, portable crib mattresses, and nursing pillows. Gas chromatography and mass spectrometry data suggested that some of the flame retardants may have decomposed during the analysis, so the researchers confirmed their findings with highperformance liquid chromatography coupled with high-resolution mass spectrometry. because babies spend much of their time next to foam They found tris(1,3-dichloroisopropyl) phosphate products. Of the fire retardants in the tested products, (TDCPP) the most often, in 36% of the products. Makonly pentaBDE is known to affect people. But some of ers of children’s pajamas discontinued using TDCPP the others cause health problems in animals, she says. in the 1970s owing to concerns about mutagenicity. For Stapleton’s coinvestigator Thomas F. Webster Recent tests suggest that TDCPP may also have neuof Boston University’s School of Public Health, the rotoxic properties (Toxicol. Appl. Pharmacol., DOI: study’s findings highlight the U.S. government’s reli10.1016/j.taap.2011.01.005). The researchers found the ance on academic scientists to discover toxic chemicals fire retardant in foams at levels of up to 12% by weight. in consumer products and to work out the resulting Stapleton’s team estimated that infants’ exposure health risks. The process is slow, he says. As a result, to TDCPP may exceed the Consumer Product Safety consumers of all ages can be exposed to substances Commission’s acceptable daily intake level of 0.005 that may harm their health, he says.—KELLYN BET TS, mg per kg of body weight. In a written statement, the special to C&EN
FIRE RETARDANTS IN BABY PRODUCTS
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Flame retardants in baby products’ polyurethane foam padding can escape into nearby environments.
