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Biomonitoring for Flame Retardants;
Global to Personal to Policy
Sharyle Patton, Director
Commonweal Biomonitoring
Resource Center
Bolinas, CA
spatton@commonweal.org
Biomonitoring, the assessment of human exposure to natural or
synthetic chemicals by measuring chemicals or their metabolites
in human tissues and fluids, can be used to inform decision
makers, focus scientific inquiry, and raise awareness about
individual and community chemical body burdens.
Global biomonitoring and global policy:
The Stockholm Convention is an international treaty that regulates
production, use and disposal of Persistent Organic Pollutants. (POPS).
Effectiveness Evaluation Program monitors air, blood, serum and
breastmilk around the globe. www.-pops-gmp.org
Data from the Stockholm Convention Global Monitoring
Program may help determine whether the Convention is effective
in lowering exposures to POPs. Those FRs added to the POPs list
for action may be reported in GMP in the future.
International POPS Elimination Network – international network of public
Interest groups that are engaged in Stockholm Convention discussions and
decision-making. www.IPEN.org
From global to personal – biomonitoring data indicates that
children and developing fetuses are especially vulnerable to
toxic chemical exposures at low levels.
287 chemicals of
concern were found
in cord blood from 10
babies born,
2004, United States
(Environmental
Working Group – US)
Percentage of U.S. Pregnant Women with Detectable Level of
Analyte
Persistent environmental
contaminants that enter the
food system
Based on analysis of representative sample of U.S. population by NHANES 2003-2004.
Note: not all women were tested for all chemicals
Source: Woodruff TJ, Zota AR, Schwartz JM 2011. Environmental Chemicals in Pregnant
Women in the US: NHANES 2003-2004. Environ Health Perspect :-.
doi:10.1289/ehp.1002727
Example of science research organization developing
educational materials for use by decision makers, researchers,
academicians, general public about early exposures/diseases
Critical Windows of Development database
www.endocrinedisruption.org
The Endocrine Disruption Exchange:
Critical Windows of Development
Biomonitoring - personal pollution
Laura Abulafia, MHS
Participant in “Mind, Disrupted
Biomonitoring project.
Tested positive for chemicals
considered to be neurotoxicants,
incl pbdes..
«“Should my child be born with a
serious disability or disorder, it would
be a terrible responsibility wondering
what I did wrong or what I could have
done differently.
I don’t want to live in fear that the
food I eat and the products I use will
impact my future children. And I
shouldn’t have to. None of us should
have to.
Project - Biomonitoring Resource Center
REPORT BACK?
“ Participants
and researchers who participated in report-back
identified benefits:
• increasing trust in science;
• environmental health literacy;
• individual and community empowerment;
• motivation to reduce exposures.
- Researchers as well as participants gained unexpected insights
into the characteristics and sources of environmental
contamination.
-Participants are almost universally eager to receive their results and
do not regret getting them.”
Brody, J. G., S.C. Dunagan, R. Morello-Frosch, P. Brown, S. Patton, and R.A. Rudel. 2014. Reporting
individual results for biomonitoring and environmental exposures: lessons learned from environmental
communication case studies. Environmental Health 2014, 13:40 doi:10.1186/1476-069X-1340. http://www.ehjournal.net/content/13/1/40/abstract
Vulnerable populations: Fire fighters – elevated levels of cancers
LeMasters, JOEM, 20063499 × 2534 - occopwatch.com
– Combined data in 32 studies of fire fighters for 20
different cancer types
• Risks for some cancers were significantly
increased in fire fighters ) including multiple myeloma,
non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, prostate, and testicular
• Other cancers with possible links to fire fighting include:
Testis, skin, malignant melanoma, brain, rectum, buccal cavity
stomach, colon, and leukemia
International Association of Fire Fighters study research.
Fluorescent Screening Test gun indicates penetration of smoke and
small particles through turn out gear at interfaces.
Before exposure to aerosol spray
Post exposure after wearing gear
Exposures on neck hands chest wrist areas
Pre exposure
Post exposure
The Women Fire Fighter Biomonitoring Collaborative (WFBC)
• Purpose: Address women fire fighter concerns about levels
of premenopausal breast cancers
Women Firefighter Biomonitoring Collaborative Study (US)
Study asks three questions:
• Are levels of chemicals—including those with potential links to
breast cancer risk—higher among women firefighters than other
women?
• Are there other, previously unmeasured, chemical exposures that are
unique to women firefighters?
• Are early indicators of biological changes associated chronic night
shift work and chemical exposure more pronounced among women
firefighters?
These changes include:
thyroid hormone disruption;
lower levels of melatonin;
changes in telomere length .
WFBC Study
Participants: 80 women fire fighters; 80 women office workers
Biospecimens: Blood and urine
Chemicals of concern: PBDEs, OH-PBDEs, PAHs, PFCs
Non-targeted Chemical Analysis: a non-targeted analysis of
chemicals in serum samples using Agilent 6550 QTOF/MS.,
prioritizing inclusion of high production chemicals, flame
retardants, polyaromatic hydrocarbons, and other potential breast
carcinogens and their metabolites.
Individual results: to be conveyed to participants who request this
information;
Aggregated results: used to inform decision makers at state,
regional, federal levels and to inform safer firefighter practices.
In the US, Fire Fighters are active in:
a. Promoting toxic chemicals policy reform at the regional and
national level;
b. Supporting fire fighters in developing improved safety protocols;
c. Advocating for restrictions on the use of toxic chemical
flame retardants in furniture;
d. Developing methods for environmentally sound disposal methods
for legacy flame retardants;
Biomonitoring data will leverage these efforts.
"We have to know that a chemical is
either good or bad," Stefani said. "We
can't sit around and wait for the science
to be done to prove that it's bad only
after it's already caused so many deaths,
and that's the way it is right now."
Tony Stefani, Retired fire fighter, cancer survivor,
San Francisco, CA