March 2019 Newsletter: Cold Weather, Warm Tidings

Hello!

I hope you had a good holiday season and are enjoying winter.  I returned to Nepal during the December holidays for a couple of weeks of day hikes and visiting the places I have loved over the years. I have also recently enjoyed cross country skiing in the Sierra, on Mt Baker in Washington state, and near Jackson, Wyoming for my birthday.
Enjoying the slopes of Mt Baker in Washington

2018 was a big year for the Green Science Policy Institute with our Tenth Anniversary Celebration of Big Ideas, and my induction into the  California Hall of Fame. (You can watch short videos from our Tenth Anniversary Celebration here. The Hall of Fame induction ceremony video is here). As we begin our second decade, we are pleased that our Six Classes concept is starting to have an impact and has encouraged decision makers in business and government to ask, “Do we really need this chemical, given the potential for harm?” when selecting chemicals and products.

At our February 15 Flame Retardant Dilemma and Beyond Symposium at UC Berkeley, we were inspired by speakers including Robert Bilott, an attorney who represents communities with PFAS- contaminated drinking water, will be documented in an upcoming major feature film starring Mark Ruffalo, Anne Hathaway, and Tim Robbins. You can view the presentations from our February Symposium here.

Some good flame retardant news has come from Europe. There, 24 member states of the European Union unanimously voted to prohibit the use of halogenated flame retardants in TVs and computer cases-taking the lead to reduce these toxics in EU homes.

Closer to home, in January the California Building Standards Commission ruled unanimously that California can safely update its codes to allow the choice of polystyrene building insulation without flame retardants below a concrete slab. After a decade of our scientific research and policy work towards healthier buildings, our Institute applauds this positive step.

The state also repealed California Technical Bulletin 133, a large open flame test standard for upholstered furniture in public places, which led to the use of high levels of flame retardants–a win for both healthier furniture and fire safety.

Thank you for reading my personal quarterly newsletters and please let me know if you might also like to subscribe to the Green Science Policy monthly newsletter. Please see below some of our favorite entries from the past few monthly newsletters.

Kind regards,

Arlene

P.S. To encourage younger voters, please share my daughter Annalise’s op-ed on student voting in the Union of Concerned Scientists blog here.

POP Goes The Mink

By Joe Charbonnet
Mink harmed by POPS banned decades ago

New Canadian governmental research finds that persistent organic pollutants (POPs) harm the development of wild mink. By analyzing the bodies of more than 150 mink, the researchers discovered that higher levels of halogenated chemicals were associated with damaged bodies and smaller reproductive organs in male mink. Elevated exposure to PBDE flame retardants were related to abnormalities, lesions, and parasites in juvenile mink. Levels of DDE, a chemical cousin of DDT, were correlated to smaller reproductive organs in adult male mink.

These findings mean more than just awkward moments in mink locker rooms: As a top predator with a mostly aquatic diet, mink are a “sentinel species” whose reproduction and health is being harmed by chemicals which were banned decades ago. This means that male reproductive development in other wild animals-and perhaps even humans-may also suffer. To learn more about these contaminants and our six chemical classes of concern, check out our short videos at SixClasses.org/

Flame Retardants: Hand-washing & House Cleaning 

by Anna Soehl

Washing your hands and cleaning your house frequently can reduce your exposure to flame retardants, according to a recent study.
Hand-washing can reduce flame retardant exposures

Flame retardants have been linked to reduced fertility, thyroid problems, and cancer. The chemicals migrate out of products and into household dust, which is picked up on hands (and then put in the mouth). During the first week of this study, half of the 32 the women participating were instructed to clean their homes more than usual, half to do extra hand-washing. During the second week of the study, all women were asked to do both extra hand-washing and house-cleaning.

Analysis of urine samples from both groups showed that levels of most of the flame retardants had declined by as much as half after the first week. After they dropped even more after the second week.

The researchers noted “house cleaning and hand-washing can help to reduce, but not eliminate, exposure to flame retardants.” Cleanliness is especially important in households with children or pregnant women, since young children and fetuses are most vulnerable to the chemicals’ toxic impacts.

For more information about flame retardants and how to reduce your exposure, visit our website. Also see Why You Should Be a Dust Buster.

Action on PFAS

I will begin with some worrisome news: Chemours, a major manufacturer of PFAS stain and water repellent chemicals, is transporting PFAS waste from Holland to North Carolina to avoid strict Dutch disposal rules as recounted in this excellent article. Also the sad account “Groundwater contamination devastates a New Mexico dairy”  tells of a New Mexico farmer who must dump 15,000 gallons a day of milk and will need to euthanize all 4,000 of his prize dairy cows due to PFAS contamination of his water supply from a nearby military base.
US legislators are taking action on PFAS

Such tragic stories are contributing to positive action on PFAS. Rob Billot, the attorney who spoke at our February meeting has filed a lawsuit against all the companies who produced PFAS on behalf of everyone with these chemicals in their bodies – which is pretty much all of us. His worthy objective is to fund research on the human health effects from the entire class of PFAS chemicals.

A bill being prepared in the US House and Senate would tell the EPA to establish Maximum Contaminant Levels (MCLs) for PFOA and PFOS within one year. This would mean that all US drinking water supplies would need to be tested for these chemicals and would have to be cleaned up to safe levels. Another bill would require the EPA to designate all PFAS as hazardous substances, which would shift much of the liability for enormous clean-up costs from the public to the polluters.
New York’s new proposed  maximum contaminant levels of 10 ng/L for PFOA and 10 ng/L for PFOS would be the nation’s most stringent standards. New Hampshire’s proposed level of 85 ng/L would be the nation’s first enforceable drinking water limit for PFHxS.

In the EU, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) published draft tolerable weekly intakes (estimates of the maximum amount of the chemicals to which a person can be exposed without increasing their health risk) for PFOA and PFOS. EG, the estimate for PFOA is roughly 1750 times lower than the 2008 level!

To learn more “Time-bombing the future” documents the history of PFAS, including their little-known role in the Manhattan Project.

Cats on Carpets: A New Canary in the Coal Mine?

by Alex Young

Cats are notorious nappers and can snooze for more than fifteen hours each day. However, their cozy life spent sleeping on carpets treated with highly fluorinated chemicals (PFAS) and furniture treated with flame retardants might be putting them at risk of health problems.
Arlene’s two kitties, Mollie and Micou

For example, PFAS chemicals can make their way from carpets and furniture into the body of a sleeping cat. A 2018 study  measured the levels of 12 PFAS compounds in cats and found that cats and humans that live in the same home have a similar profile of body burdens of PFAS compounds.

This study also found a decline in the concentration of PFAS in cats over the five-year study period, possibly due to the phase-out of some of the more well-studied and known toxic PFAS such as PFOA and PFOS. Researchers also found a correlation between hyperthyroid disease in cats and higher concentrations of PFAS.

PFAS is not the only chemical suspected to contribute to the current epidemic of hyperthyroid disease in cats. A 2016 study found a correlation between household levels of  polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) flame retardants and hyperthyroid disease in cats.

This study built upon 2012 research that examined the effects of PBDEs on feline thyroid glands and household dust as a primary exposure route.

The additive effects between different toxic chemicals such as PBDEs and PFAS are currently unknown, but could play a role in thyroid diseases. Chemical contamination is often a human interest story, but we should not forget about our furry friends who can’t speak up for themselves, and may well be the new “canaries in the coal mine.”

Calendar

April 11, 2019: Earth Week Keynote: Mountains and Molecules
2pm, Gould Auditorium, Marriott Library, University of Utah

Arlene Blum will deliver a keynote lecture for Earth Week

April 17, 2019: Breaking Trail: Mountains and Molecules
5:00pm, Hope Room, URI Robert J. Wiggins Welcome Center, 45 Upper College Road, University of Rhode Island, Kingston, RI 02881
Arlene Blum will giving a lecture to the STEEP community about her mountaineering and also the metaphorical mountain of reducing the use of Six Classes of chemicals of concern including PFAS. Learn more here.