Bills to Ban Toxic Chemicals in California Are Among Ones to Watch This Week

As Assemblymember Leno pointed out in an article last month, these are found at the highest levels in babies, toddlers, and women. Because these chemicals bioaccumulate in fatty tissues, they are passed to babies when they are breast fed by their mothers. Studies link exposure to low concentrations of certain fire retardants to cancer and birth defects. Additionally, they can cause reproductive problems, disrupt thyroid hormone balance and contribute to a variety of neurological and developmental deficits, including low intelligence and learning disabilities.

This bill passed the appropriations committee on a straight party line vote, 12 to 5, with all votes for it coming from Democrats and all against it from Republicans and the votes in the two policy committees it had to pass were similarly partisan.

AB 513 (Lieber) which would ban decaBDE. California phased out two related chemicals, pentaBDE and octaBDE, in 2003. Deca was omitted from this prohibition because the evidence of its harmful effects was not yet deemed conclusive. It has now been shown that deca breaks down (when exposed to sunlight) into these same toxic chemicals that have already been banned. Scientists have found it in household dust, food, human blood, breast milk, dietary supplements containing cod liver oil, and peregrine falcon eggs.

In 1995, U.S. EPA classified the decaBDE as a “possible human carcinogen.” PBDEs, including decaBDE, have been linked to learning, behavior, and memory problems, liver and thyroid toxicity, and developmental toxicity. Since AB 302 and AB 2587 were signed into law banning pentaBDE and octaBDE, new scientific evidence has emerged about PBDEs, including decaBDE. This evidence includes:

• DecaBDE in household and motor vehicle dust and in some homes comprises 90 percent of the total PBDE burden. Small children are particularly vulnerable to exposure since they crawl on the floor, put toys and other items in their mouths, and ingest more dust.

• Infants and young children are exposed to or ingest more PBDEs than any other age group.

• DecaBDE administered to test animals on a single day in early life caused irreversible changes to adult brain function. Symptoms worsened with age. A second laboratory confirmed these low dose effects on neurodevelopment.

• Many species can metabolize decaBDE to other forms of PBDEs, which are considered more toxic than decaBDE.

• The release of decaBDE to land, water, and air increased by a factor of 10 between 1988 and 2000. Studies have measured the highest levels of PBDEs in U.S. and Canadian citizens compared to other countries.

• DecaBDE undergoes long-range environmental transport in air, most likely as a consequence of binding to atmospheric particles. Sludge from waste water treatment plants contains high levels of PBDEs. This is particularly troubling since half of this sludge is used as fertilizer for crops in the United States.

• DecaBDE accumulates in birds of prey at much higher levels than previously thought. In fact, a recent study documented the highest level of deca ever reported in wildlife.

• High levels of PBDEs are found in some foods, particularly fish, meat, eggs, oil and dairy. Infant formula may also be a source of decaBDE exposure.

There are no scientific studies contradicting any of this recent research.

Washington state has passed legislation to prohibit use of deca, and Hawaii, Illinois, Massachusetts, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana and New York are considering it. Four state environmental agencies have recently reviewed the scientific evidence about deca and the suitability of alternatives. Each concluded that phasing out deca is warranted by existing research. In particular, Maine Department of Environmental Protection has found that safer alternatives to decaBDE exist that provide a high level of fire safety. Illinois EPA concluded that deca exposures could already be occurring in the range of doses causing adverse effects.

SB 456 (Simitian) to ban Diacetyl , an artificial flavoring that is mixed with popcorn to give a buttery taste that has been linked to serious health problems in movie theater food employees in particular.

Exposure to diacetyl vapors has been associated with constrictive bronchiolitis obliterans, or "popcorn worker lung", a severe and potentially fatal lung disease that causes inflammation and scarring in the small airways of the lungs which leads to severe impairment of lung function. Most cases do not respond to medical treatment and can only be cured by lung transplant.

In the last year, the California Department of Health Services has identified eight confirmed cases of workers in California who have contracted bronchiolitis obliterans and is currently investigating additional cases. In the United States, it is estimated, that there are thousands of people who have been stricken with this illness and may not even know that they were exposed to this chemical. No safe exposure level has been determined by either state or federal governmental entities by which mitigation measures can be developed and implemented.

In 2000 NIOSH (National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health) did a study implicating this substance in these health problems and in 2004 issued an alert. In 2002 a New England Journal of Medicine study of 117 popcorn factory workers concluded that those workers had a 3.3 times-higher chance of an airway obstruction.

We'll see this week if we get profiles of courage on these and other bills in our state legislature.