What is potentially alarming is that their chemical structure indicates that they persist in the body for a long time. A recent Swedish study showed levels of the compounds in breast milk rose exponentially over a 25-year period. The rub is that these flame-retardant chemicals are not regulated by EPA or anywhere in the world, says Buckley. For example, researchers now suspect that some chemicals may cause subtle changes in immunity, reproduction, and cognition. They are investigating links between environmental exposures and attention deficit disorder, Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease, and auto-immune diseases such as lupus.
Pesticides are one example.
But there is a lot in consumer products we don't know about. I think it is very important that we know more.