Flame Retardant Compounds in Household Products Can Affect Children's Brain Development

Exposure to certain chemical compounds found in every day household products while in the mother's womb or after birth can affect children's brain development, a new study says.

Researchers from the University of California, Berkeley initiated to examine the hidden risks associated with exposing to polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), flame retardant compounds found in foam furniture, electronics, carpets and other household products. They found children of women exposed to these chemicals during pregnancy or children who were exposed after birth experiencing neurodevelopmental delays.

PBDEs are a group of chemicals used as flame retardants in plastics and textile coatings. For examining the link, researchers included 279 women and their 272 children.  To measure exposure to these chemicals, researchers collected blood samples from these women when they were pregnant and their children when they turned seven years.

Standardized tests were conducted at five and seven years to examine the children's attention, motor coordination and intelligence levels. Parents and teachers of the children provided details about the children's attention skills and behavior.

Researchers found exposure to these compounds while in mother's womb or childhood having a negative impact on motor skills, attention and IQ of children.

"This is the largest and most comprehensive study to date to examine neurobehavioral development in relation to body burden measures of PBDE flame retardants," study lead author Brenda Eskenazi, Jennifer and Brian Maxwell Professor of Maternal and Child Health and Epidemiology, said in a news release. "We measured PBDEs both in the mothers during pregnancy and in the children themselves. It shows that there is a relationship of in utero and childhood levels to decrements in fine motor function, attention and IQ."

According to health experts, the findings bring concern as a significant number of Americans (97 percent) are exposed to these chemicals regularly.

"Within the range of PBDE exposure levels, 5 percent of the U.S. population has very high exposure levels, so the health impact on children in these extremes could be even more significant," Heather Stapleton, associate professor of environmental chemistry at Duke University , who was not involved with the study, said.

Findings of the study have been published in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives.