Biomonitoring: Polybrominated Diphenyl Ethers and Polybrominated Biphenyls Using Capillary GC with Electron...

Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) have emerged as a significant class of persistent organic pollutants (POPs). These POPs join the organochlorine pesticides (OCs) and polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) and polybrominated (PBB) biphenyl congeners as environmentally significant POPs that must be biomonitored continuously. Potential threats to human and animal health include developmental neurotoxicity, endocrine disruption, peripheral nervous system damage and cancer (1,2). Morland and colleagues (3) cite two reported adverse health outcomes in laboratory animals dosed with high levels of PBDEs to include neurologic deficiencies and endocrine disruption . Sjödin and colleagues (4) at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report an increase in the concentration of PBDEs measured in 40 human serum pools collected in the southeastern United States from 1985 through 2002 and in Seattle, Washington, from 1999 through 2002. In contrast, 2,2',4,4',5,5'-hexabromobiphenyl (BB-153), the principal PBB congener from the original Firemaster (Formerly the Michigan Chemical Corporation, St. Louis, Missouri) fire retardant product that inadvertently contaminated livestock and entered the human food chain in Michigan in 1973 (5,6) as well as 2,2',4,4',5,5'-hexachlorobiphenyl (CB-153) also were measured and found to be decreasing over this time period. Sjödin and colleagues (7) at the CDC recently reported serum concentration levels of 10 BDE congeners and BB-153 in representative sampling of U.S. residents in 2003 and 2004. Out of 2062 serum samples, almost all serum samples contained detectable levels of BDE-47.