Human Exposure to Organic Flame Retardants: Knowns and Unknowns

To meet flame retardancy regulations, a wide range of consumer goods are treated with chemical flame retardants. The discovery in the late 1990s that concentrations of one such class of chemicals (polybrominated diphenyl ethers – PBDEs) were increasing exponentially in human milk, triggered concerns about the environmental presence and effects of PBDEs and related brominated and organophosphate flame retardants (BFRs and PFRs).

Because of their extensive indoor applications, the pathways of human exposure to these chemicals differ from those of organochlorine POPs like dioxins. Moreover, while manufacture and new use of PBDEs has ceased, there is a vast quantity of consumer goods containing them that have already or are yet to enter the waste stream, with concomitant potential for environmental releases.

This presentation, given by Stuart Harrad, University of Birmingham, UK, summarizes what is known about the sources, pathways, and extent of human exposure to BFRs and PFRs, covering emissions and exposure during both the in-use and end-of-life phases.

Watch the full presentation: The Organic Flame Retardant Story: Knowns and Unknowns