PBDE and PCB contamination in Northwest mothers is from tests of human breast milk donated by 40 first-time Northwest mothers with infants between two and eight weeks of age. Breast milk samples were collected from April through November of 2003. Ten mothers were recruited from each of four metropolitan areas: Seattle, Portland, Vancouver, BC, and Missoula, Montana. These samples were tested for the twelve most widely produced types of polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), and a suite of both coplanar and non-coplanar polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). Chemical analysis was performed by the California Environmental Protection Agency's Hazardous Materials Laboratory in Berkeley, California, using high resolution gas chromatography/high resolution mass spectrometry. Results for PBDEs have been reported in Sightline Institute, "Flame Retardants in the Bodies of Pacific Northwest Residents," Sept. 29, 2004, www.sightline.org/research/pollution/res_pubs/pbde-nw-report. Results for PCBs were reported in Jianwen She et al., "PBDEs Greater Than PCBs in 30% of Breast Milk Samples from the Pacific Northwest," presented at the Dioxin 2005 conference, www.sightline.org/research/pollution/res_pubs/pbdes/pbdes_pcbs_northwest.
Health effects of PCBs from, among other sources, Susan L. Schantz et al., "Effects of PCB Exposure on Neuropsychological Function in Children," Environmental Health Perspectives, 111(3): 357-376 (2003); Joseph L. Jacobson and Sandra W. Jacobson, "Association of Prenatal Exposure to an Environmental Contaminant with Intellectual Function in Childhood," Clinical Toxicology, 40(4): 467-475 (2002); David Carpenter, "Polychlorinated biphenyls and human health," International Journal of Occupational Medicine and Environmental Health, 11(4):291-303 (1998); Johnson, B. L. et al., "Public Health Implications of Exposure to Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs)," Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, (1999), www.atsdr.cdc.gov/DT/pcb007.html.
Rise of PBDE levels in people from Kellyn S. Betts, "A New Record for PBDEs in People," Environmental Science and Technology, May 25, 2005.
House dust as PBDE exposure pathway from, among others, Heather A. Jones-Otazo et al., "Is House Dust the Missing Exposure Pathway for PBDEs? An Analysis of the Urban Fate and Human Exposure to PBDEs," Environmental Science and Technology, 39 (14), 5121 -5130, (2005); and H. Stapleton et al., "Polybrominated Diphenyl Ethers in House Dust and Clothes Dryer Lint," Environmental Science and Technology, published online Dec. 29, 2004.
(Sources updated January 2009.)