PBDEs surpassing PCBs

This slide, which was created for ES&T by Andreas Sjödin of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, shows that the levels of the most bioaccumulative polybrominated diphenyl ether (PBDE) congener, BDE-47, in U.S. human blood samples are now higher, on average, than the levels of the most bioaccumulative PCB congener, CB-153. Many researchers believe that this is a significant, albeit troubling, milestone.

The pooled blood samples that Sjödin analyzed were collected from people in the southeastern United States from 1985 to 1997 and in 2002, and from Seattle from 1999 to 2002. “There is a large variability in our data, but we can conclude that [PBDE levels] are increasing significantly,” he told attendees at the Dioxin 2003 meeting in Boston in late August. The rising PBDE levels are also noteworthy because they are highly elevated compared to European levels, Sjödin said.