Confirming a long-held supposition, new research shows that children bear high burdens of polybrominated diphenyl ether (PBDE) flame retardants in their bodies. In the first study to compare children’s uptake with that of their mothers, researchers found that children’s PBDE levels are around 2.8 times higher (Environ. Sci. Technol., DOI: 10.1021/es1009357).

For decades, the retardants featured in a wide variety of U.S. consumer goods, including automobiles, airplanes, electronics, and furniture. Adding to concerns about health effects, two recent studies linked elevated PBDEs in children to decreased IQ and other neurodevelopmental impairments (Environ. Health Perspect., DOI: 10.1289/ehp.0901340 and 10.1289/ehp.0901015).

The new study’s findings echo the results of the largest study of PBDE uptake in U.S. boys and girls under the age of 12,  which was published in March (Environ. Sci. Technol., DOI: 10.1021/es903240g). That study found PBDE levels in the blood plasma of 94 children to be between 2 and 10 times higher than levels previously found for U.S. adults (Environ. Sci. Technol., DOI: 10.1021/es702451p).

In the new study, 20 children between 18 months and 4 years and their mothers, living in 11 U.S states, provided blood samples for analysis. Coauthor Sonya Lunder, senior analyst for the nonprofit Environmental Working Group, explains that testing mother-child pairs can control for variability between households, diets, and perhaps even genetics.