Dust With Flame Retardant May Harm Cats, Study Says
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
WASHINGTON — A new federal study suggests that household dust containing a common flame retardant may be linked to an increase in cats getting sick from overactive thyroids. That could be a warning sign for how young children could get exposed to the chemical, the director of experimental toxicology at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and co-author of the study, Linda Birnbaum, said.
The small study looks at chemical flame retardants called polybrominated diphenyl ethers, which were used in foam, plastics, furniture, electronics, fabrics, and carpet padding. The sole American manufacturer in 2004 agreed to phase out the types of PBDEs included in the study because of concern about toxicity in animals. But PBDEs remain in American homes.
The study of 23 cats found the older felines with high levels of certain types of PBDEs tended to have overactive thyroids, the researchers reported online Wednesday in the peer-reviewed journal Environmental Science and Technology.
