William Atkins
Saturday, 30 January 2010 02:04
Science -
Health
Page 1 of 4
A U.S. study adds to mounting evidence that polybrominated diphenyl ethers (commonly labeled PBDEs) are health risks and, specifically, may reduce fertility in women. PBDEs are found everywhere in the home and office, from furniture, computers, and carpets, to plastics and TVs.
Drs. Kim G. Harley, Amy R. Marks, Jonathan Chevrier, Asa Bradman, Andreas Sjödin, and Brenda Eskenazi studied whether PBDEs have any affect on the fertility of women.
Their results are published in the January 26, 2010 issue of the journal
Environmental Health Perspectives, a publication of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences.
As the first scientific study to analyze this supposed relationship, the title of their paper is “
PBDE Concentrations in Women's Serum and Fecundability” (doi:10.1289/ehp.0901450).
Polybrominated diphenyl ether (PBDE) is a widely used ingredient in products used as flame retardants. According to the abstract to their paper,
“… 97% of Americans [have] detectable levels” of PBDEs in the bodies.
Knowing that other scientific studies had analyzed the relationships of PBDEs to reproduction and hormones in animals but not in humans, these authors decided to analyze the affect that PBDEs might play in the fertility of human females.
Specifically, they wanted to determine,
“… whether maternal concentrations of PBDEs in serum collected during pregnancy are associated with time to pregnancy and menstrual cycle characteristics.” [Abstract of their paper]
Page two continues with the specifics of the study.
