Another type of brominated flame retardant widely used in consumer products has been detected in human breast milk in the United Kingdom, a recent study finds. The authors estimate the nursing infants are exposed to levels four times higher than those estimated for U.K. adults and toddlers.
More: Environmental Health News

Women's risk of developing autoimmune rheumatic disease increases incrementally according to the frequency and duration of their exposure to insecticides, a large observational study suggested.
More: MedPage Today

Investigadores de la University of California, de San Francisco, Estados Unidos, aseguran que la mayoría de mujeres embarazadas de ese país están expuestas a productos químicos, incluyendo algunos presentes en muchos productos o utensilios de la vida diaria a otros que están prohibidos desde hace varias décadas.
More: JANO.es (Spanish)

The manufacture, production and use of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) have all decreased since their adverse health properties and environmental persistence were recognised but they remain an established and unwanted legacy.
More: www.spectroscopynow.com

A new study finds for the first time that the bodies of virtually all U.S. pregnant women – and possibly their unborn children – carry multiple chemicals, including some banned since the 1970s and others used in common products such as processed foods and personal care products.
More: Environmental Health News

Ski wax can expose users to perfluorochemicals that build up in their bodies and carry potentially serious health risks. Racers, in particular, covet waxes with high amounts of fluorinated compounds because they make skis and snowboards go faster. But that extra speed could come at a cost. Wax technicians working for World Cup ski race teams had median levels of one compound that were up to 45 times higher than the general population’s.
More: Environmental Health News

People who live in houses with higher levels of flame retardant chemicals in the dust have themselves higher levels of the chemicals in their blood, a finding that implicates dust as a major exposure source for the compounds. 

More: Environmental Health News

High levels of brominated flame retardants can alter pregnant women’s thyroid hormones, which are critical to a baby’s growth and brain development, according to a California study. More: Environmental Health News

Scientists have found evidence suggesting that chemicals designed to prevent fires are getting into your children's blood and rewiring their brains, leading to attention deficit disorder, hyperactivity, hearing problems, slow mental development and, possibly, cancer.
More: life.salon.com

Women with higher blood concentrations of PBDE flame retardants may take significantly longer to get pregnant. Chemicals widely used to prevent fires in household products like furniture and electronics may contribute to fertility problems by lengthening the time it takes for a woman to get pregnant, according to study of low-income, mostly Mexican-American women living in California.
More: Environmental Health News

A study published in February, 2010 in Environmental Science & Technology found that professional ski-waxers, the people that help Lindsay Vaughn fly, have higher levels in their bodies of the toxic chemical C8, also known as perfluorooctanoic acid, or PFOA. The levels of PFOA were 50 times greater than are found in the general population.
More: NRDC - Smarter Living

Two new studies show remarkably high levels of PBDE flame retardants in the bodies of California children. PBDE body burden levels in two separate populations of California children were 10 to 1,000 times higher than European children, 2 to 10 times higher than other U.S. children and adults, and approached levels measured in occupationally-exposed adults.
More: Environmental Health News

Selon l'Agence française de sécurité sanitaire des aliments, les femmes qui sont enceintes ou allaitantes et les enfants de moins de trois ans doivent être mieux protégés contre les PCB, classés en tant que substances probablement cancérigènes pour l'Homme.
More: BIOaddict

Women with higher levels of dioxin in their blood when they tried to get pregnant took longer to conceive than women with lower levels, researchers report in a followup study. The women were exposed to high levels of the chemical when a manufacturing plant in Seveso, Italy, exploded in 1976.
More: Environmental Health News

Wilkins talks in an upbeat way with anyone who will listen. She helps families seek answers and military benefits for the returning vets from Iraq and Afghanistan who are reporting an array of illnesses - from cancer to Parkinson’s disease, skin rashes to tremors. The unifying thread – all had been exposed to burn pits during their time in Iraq and Afghanistan.
More: InjuryBoard.com

A government study says fish in Swiss waters are not overly contaminated with PCBs but others say too little is known about the effects the chemicals have on humans.
More: www.swissinfo.ch

The EPA recently announced a list of chemicals to be reviewed. On the list: flame retardants or PBDEs. Scientists say these chemicals, used to reduce the flammability of upholstery and carpeting, accumulate in our bodies. Host Jeff Young talks with Dr. Julie Herbstman of Columbia University about a new study that indicates PBDEs may affect the intelligence of young children. 
More: Living on Earth

A study of breast milk samples from more than 300 women in North Carolina finds flame retardants contaminate the milk from almost three-quarters of the woman in the study. Women older than 35 had the lowest levels of PBDEs in their milk. The highest levels were measured in breast milk from women aged 25 to 29, followed by women younger than 25 years old.
More: Environmental Health News

Those pristine-looking Alpine glaciers now melting as global warming sets in may explain the mysterious increase in persistent organic pollutants in sediment from certain lakes since the 1990s, despite decreased use of those compounds in pesticides, electric equipment, paints and other products.
More: www.sciencedaily.com

Implementation of the Stockholm Treaty on Persistent Organic Pollutants is a unique opportunity to foster changes in environmental, occupational, and food policies. Drawn under the leadership of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)—with significant contributions from nongovernmental organisations, trade unions, and private companies—it has been saluted as “a global public health treaty.” More: