Children???s Exposure: The Case of Polybrominated Biphenyl Ethers (PBDEs):

P-423 Introduction: The EU funded Policy Interpretation Network on Children’s Health and Environment, PINCHE, studied current exposures of children to environmental contaminants and related health effects. Children’s exposure differs from exposure of adults, because of their activities, for example their crawling behavior, because of their higher intake of food in relation to their bodyweight, and because of their perinatal exposure, for example through breast milk. One group of environmental stressors studied by PINCHE are polybrominated biphenyl ethers (PBDEs), a class of brominated flame retardants. PBDEs are frequently used in consumer products and have been found in several environmental and human samples. Methods: The PINCHE project performed a strategic review on children’s exposure to and health effects from air pollutants, neurotoxicants, noise, and carcinogens. Based upon these reviews PINCHE formulated recommendations for policy and research for the EU and its Member States, to improve children’s environment and health. Literature on PBDEs was collected by looking in PubMed and EMbase for studies on exposure, epidemiology and toxicology. Results: No epidemiological studies on PBDEs were detected, except for a few occupational studies. Several toxicological studies were collected, demonstrating the neurotoxic abilities of PBDEs in animals, in particular of the lower brominated congeners penta- and octa-BDE. Monitoring studies, mainly from Northern and Western Europe, showed that all children in these areas of Europe are exposed to PBDEs through diet: mainly through consumption of fish, meat and milk. For nursing infants the main source of PBDE exposure is breast milk. For toddlers exposure through dust may be an important exposure route. Nursing infants are exposed to PBDE levels in the range of 15 ng/kg bodyweight per day, older children are exposed to PBDE levels in the range of 2–3 ng/kg bodyweight per day. In North America PBDE levels in food and breast milk are ten to a hundred times higher. Discussion and conclusion: PBDE levels have been measured in breast milk, fish, and other food products in a number of studies. PBDE levels strongly increased in the environment in the last decades. The lower brominated congeners, the most toxic PBDEs, are monitored frequently. Deca-BDE has not often been monitored. Because of the ban of the production and use of penta- and octa-BDE in the EU since 2004, the use of and exposure to deca-BDE will increase. Therefore PINCHE recommends intensified monitoring of deca-BDE levels in breast milk and food, as well as in human tissue, also in Southern and Eastern Europe. Also continuation of monitoring of penta- and octa-BDEs is recommended, because exposure will continue during the following decades, from products manufactured before 2004 and from imported products.