Flame Retardants Linked to Reduced Human Fertility
Brenda Eskenzai, Ph.D., Kim. G. Harley, Ph.D. and Asa Bradman, Ph.D.
University of California Berkeley
P01ES009605 and R01ES015572
Women exposed to high levels of flame retardants take longer to become pregnant according to an NIEHS funded study at the University of California Berkeley. This is the first study to show decreases in human fertility related to the chemicals.
Polybrominated diphenyl ethers, or PBDEs, are a class of flame retardants found in many consumer products such as foam cushions in furniture, carpet padding, clothing, and electronics. The compounds accumulate in fatty tissue and laboratory animal studies have identified them as endocrine disruptors. Other studies have reported significant concentrations of PBDEs in salmon, butter, cheese, and ground beef as well as in household dust and effluents from wastewater treatment plants. The compounds are essentially ubiquitous in the environment and some consumer products contain as much as 90 percent PBDEs by weight.
In the current study, more than 97 percent of the women participating in the study had measureable levels of PBDEs in their blood. The analysis was limited to four congeners detected in greater than 75 percent of the population. Increasing levels of the compounds was associated with longer time to pregnancy. With each 10-fold increase in the blood level, the odds of becoming pregnant reduced by 30 percent. None of the women in study were infertile and on average they took about 3 months to become pregnant, but PBDEs may be pushing some women into a sub-fertile zone making it more difficult for them to conceive. About 15 percent of the women in the study took longer than 12 months to conceive.
Citation: Harley KG, Marks AR, Chevrier J, Bradman A, Sjödin A, Eskenazi B. PBDE Concentrations in Women's Serum and Fecundability. Environ Health Perspect. 2010. Jan 26.
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