Flame Retardant Gulls

Last evening, I cited research indicating that people may acquire much of their daily exposure to brominated flame retardants—ubiquitous and potentially toxic chemicals used to render many plastics, fabrics, and other materials resistant to burning—from the air in our homes. Well, today's post points out that wildlife also accumulate these chemicals, byproducts of humanity's love affair with plastics and foam-based goods.

The new paper, published Tuesday online—and slated to appear soon in a print edition of Environmental Science & Technology, reports Canadian research on fetal exposures to herring gulls (Larus argentatus) living around each of the Great Lakes. Not only did eggs of the birds contain anywhere from around 185 to 400 parts per billion (ppb) of polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), but they also carried low-ppb concentrations of other types of brominated flame retardants as well.

Many of these are agents that manufacturers have been turning to now that two of the three major classes of PBDEs have been phased out in the United States and Europe. These replacements for PBDEs include chemicals with long, intimidating names, such as hexabromobenzene, pentabromoethylbenzene, and hexabromocyclododecane.

Lewis T. Gauthier of Environment Canada in Ottawa and his colleagues argue that since mother gulls are depositing these chemicals into their eggs, these newer non-PBDE flame retardants must taint the birds' freshwater prey.

What makes the findings potentially troubling: Almost no toxicity data exist for these non-PBDE flame retardants, despite the fact that they are starting to show up in measurable amounts in wildlife.