In one small study a Berkeley, California family of four, a mother, father, 5-year-old daughter, and an 18-month-old son, all gave blood to be tested for levels of PBDEs, first in September of 2004, and again ninety days later. The Berkeley family used no common household cleaners, no
pesticides, had no wall-to-wall carpeting, and owned no large new appliances. The mother was a university researcher and the father, who was from the East Coast, taught high school. Their first child, a daughter, attended kindergarten and the baby, who was still breastfeeding at the time of the study, spent his days both in childcare and at home with his mother and father.

The researchers in this study discovered that, unlike PCBs that accumulate in our bodies as we age, levels of PBDEs are two to 15 fold higher for children than adults.

Most alarming was that these levels were uncomfortably close to those associated with adverse effects on reproduction and neurodevelopment in laboratory animals. While the adult’s PBDE concentrations approached U.S. median concentrations, the children’s concentrations were near the maximum found in U.S. adults.

So the question is why were the children’s levels sky-high, when the parent’s levels were average? One explanation is that because children spend more time on the floor, they have greater exposure to the penta- and deca-PBDEs in the household dust. Household dust accounts for 80% of total daily PBDE exposure for toddlers compared with 14% for adults. U.S. EPA estimates that children from one to four ingest 100mg household dust per day and adults ingest 50 mg per day.

The children’s diets could be another source of exposure. Although there is a lack of data on dietary PBDE exposure, there is good data on exposure through breast milk.

Dr. Schecter from the University of Texas School of Public Health assumes that although both children were breastfed, the baby’s level was particularly high due to more recent breastfeeding. “Babies get a whopping dose from mother’s milk,” he said. As mothers who provided this magic elixir, mother’s milk, we have to wonder at its almost curative power in offsetting the dangers of this environmental toxin.