Introduction to Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals

widely available in developing countries. A brief summary on the recent San Antonio
Statement on brominated flame retardants (BFRs) is provided in Box 6.
Where people are exposed, evidence of exposure, and where risks are
BFRs are not chemically bound to products and are therefore released into the
environment where they may enter the human body via ingestion and inhalation
of contaminated house dust and/or food. Even though PBDE exposures in Europe
and the US are declining since they were phased out over a decade ago (142), they
remain a public health concern since PBDEs have long elimination half lives in
the body (143, 144), may persist in the indoor environment (145), and can biomagnify
in the food web (146). Additionally, there may be a slow replacement time for
PBDE-containing consumer products in the home. An additional source of PBDE
exposure in developing countries is the processing of 20 – 50 million tons of waste
primarily in Africa and Asia * .
The listing of PBDEs in the Stockholm Convention includes specific exemptions
that allow for recycling and the use in articles of recycled materials containing
these chemicals (141). Recycling of electrical and electronic equipment, which
occurs in Africa and Asia, leads to BFR exposures in workers during the recycling
stage and in use of recycled products (147). For example, one study of recycled
* http://www.basel.int/Implementation/PartnershipProgramme/PACE/Overview/tabid/3243/Default.
aspx
Introduction to EDCs (December 2014) 49