Flame Retardants and DEET Now in
Swimming Pools
January 20, 2015
Story at-a-glance
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Researchers found 32 different chemicals in swimming-pool
water, including flame retardants, caffeine, and DEET (an
active ingredient in insect repellant)
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About 75 percent of Americans have flame-retardant chemicals
in their bodies
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Flame retardants also contaminate the world’s oceans, and
when fish eat plastic contaminated with flame retardants
they show signs of endocrine disruption and tumor formation
By Dr. Mercola
About 75 percent of California residents have flame-retardant
chemicals in their bodies, according to a late 2014 study.1
Many of them had no less than six different kinds,
including one (chlorinated tris, or TDCIPP) that was phased out
of children’s pajamas in the 1970s.
Also surprising was the discovery of tris-(2-chloroethyl)
phosphate, or TCEP, which has never been detected in Americans
before. TCEP is a known carcinogen and damages your nervous and
reproductive systems.
The study highlighted an important finding, which was that
those with the highest levels lived in homes with the highest
levels in household dust. This means that flame-retardant
chemicals lurking in your home – in your
mattress and your couch cushions, for instance – are a
primary source of exposure… but it’s not the only one.
Flame Retardants Found in Swimming Pools
It’s known that highly toxic disinfection byproducts (DBPs)
form from reactions between pool disinfectants and organic
matter, including hair, skin, sweat, dirt,
urine and more.
Researchers from Purdue University wondered whether similar
reactions occurred between disinfectants like chlorine and other
chemicals in the water, such as those from personal care
products.
To find out, they first needed to find out what kinds of
chemicals are in the water. So they tested water from three
indoor swimming pools in the US – two public pools used mostly
by college students and one pool located inside a high school.
They found 32 different chemicals in the water.2
Of them, three were most common:
- TCEP, the carcinogenic flame retardant that’s found in
75 percent of Californians (and probably is equally
prevalent in other Americans)
- Caffeine
-
DEET, an active ingredient in insect repellants
It’s unclear just how much flame-retardant and other chemical
exposures may be coming from swimming pools, but it deserves a
closer look, especially if you spend a lot of time swimming in
pools. The study’s lead author noted:3
"Swimmers are exposed to chemicals through three
different routes: You can inhale, you can ingest and it can
go through your skin. So the exposure you receive in a
swimming pool setting is potentially much more extensive
than the exposure you would receive by just one route
alone."
It was also unclear just how the flame retardant TCEP was
being introduced to the pool water, although the researchers
noted other chemicals, like caffeine, were likely introduced by
human excretions (sweat and urine).
If 75 percent of Americans excrete flame retardants in their
urine, then perhaps that is responsible for the levels found in
pools as well. It’s also possible flame-retardant chemicals
contaminate the water before anyone gets in. As the National
Resources Defense Council explained:4
“During manufacturing, use and disposal, these [flame
retardant] chemicals are released into the environment where
they can be found in air, water, and wildlife. They are
carried on air currents as far away as the Arctic where they
pollute native human populations, marine mammals, and even
polar bears.”
Should You Avoid Swimming Pools?
Most public pools are overloaded with chlorine, as the
well-intentioned people who maintain public pools overly shock
them with chlorine to make sure bacteria and other organisms get
snuffed out quickly.
But even the swimming pool in your backyard could be toxic if
you treat it with chlorine – even if you’re relatively confident
there aren’t other chemicals (like DEET) in the water.
Any organic matter – including hair, skin, sweat, and dirt –
can react with chlorine to create DBPs. It’s known that
trihalomethanes (THMs), one of the most common DBPs, are Cancer
Group B carcinogens, meaning they’ve been shown to cause cancer
in laboratory animals.
They’ve also been linked to reproductive problems in both
animals and humans, such as spontaneous abortion, stillbirths,
and congenital malformations, even at lower levels.
People who frequent swimming pools have an increased risk of
bladder cancer compared to those who do not,5
and DBPs have even been suggested as partially responsible for
the increased risk of melanoma cancer among swimmers.6
According to one study published in the Journal of
Environmental Sciences,7
the cancer risk of DBPs (in this case THMs) from various routes
in descending order was:
- Skin exposure while swimming
- Gastro-intestinal exposure from tap water intake
- Skin exposure to tap water
- Gastro-intestinal exposure while swimming
The cancer risk from skin exposure while swimming comprised
over 94 percent of the total cancer risk resulting from being
exposed to THMs! The authors even went so far as to conclude
that swimming in a chlorinated pool presents “an unacceptable
cancer risk.”
Can Swimming Pools Be Made Safer?
One of the best solutions is NOT to chlorinate your pool and
just use a maintenance "shock" treatment every five or six days,
which will kill the algae buildup. The shock treatment
volatilizes in about 24-48 hours and gives you a several-day
window in which you can safely use your pool.
You can also reduce the amount of organic material you bring
into the pool, and thereby the amount of DBPs created, by
showering prior to entering and teaching your children not to
urinate in the water.
This will be difficult if you’re visiting a public swimming
pool or waterpark, however, since many people do not shower
prior to entering, and you can’t control what other types of
chemicals (from personal care products, sunscreens, insect
repellants and, yes, urine) might be in the water.
Swimming in an ocean is an excellent alternative, as is
swimming in a lake or other natural unpolluted body of water.
Although, even these are, sadly, mostly contaminated.
Flame Retardants, Plastic Ubiquitous in the World’s Oceans
A new study published in PLOS One found there are
more than 5 trillion plastic pieces weighing over 250,000 tons
in the world’s oceans.8
The data came from 24 expeditions involving surface net tows and
visual spotting of large plastic debris.
There was actually less plastic found floating on the water
than expected, but that’s because the researchers believe the
plastic is broken down quickly. It either sinks and gets caught
in deeper water currents or it’s eaten by marine animals,
including barnacles, zooplankton, fish, birds, and whales. Said
the study’s lead author:9
“Plastic in the ocean is basically a hazardous waste,
as it absorbs this plethora of persistent chemical wastes
and… delivers these toxins to these animals that unknowingly
ingest them.”
Chief among those chemical wastes are, you guessed it, flame
retardants, which past studies have shown are persistent ocean
pollutants. Research from the University of California-Davis has
revealed that when fish eat plastic contaminated with flame
retardants they show signs of endocrine disruption, tumor
formation and malformed gonads.10
As Newsweek reported:11
“It stands to reason this is also happening in the wild, and
that plastics may serve as a vector to transfer pollutants into
fish, and then perhaps the humans who eat these fish…”
Reducing Flame Retardants in Your Home Is a Good Place to Start…
Flame-retardant chemicals have been linked to serious health
risks, including infertility, birth defects, neurodevelopmental
delays, reduced IQ scores and behavioral problems in children,
hormone disruptions, and various forms of
cancer. If you want to
reduce your exposure, it’s wise to start in the place where you
spend the most time – your home (not the swimming pool). Tips
you can use to reduce your exposure around your home include:12
- Be especially careful with polyurethane foam products
manufactured prior to 2005, such as upholstered furniture,
mattresses, and pillows, as these are most likely to contain
flame-retardant chemicals called polybrominated diphenyl
ethers (PBDEs). If you have any of these in your home,
inspect them carefully and replace ripped covers and/or any
foam that appears to be breaking down. Also, avoid
reupholstering furniture by yourself, as the reupholstering
process increases your risk of exposure.
- Older carpet padding is another major source of PBDEs,
so take precautions when removing old carpet. You'll want to
isolate your work area from the rest of your house to avoid
spreading it around, and use a HEPA filter vacuum to clean
up.
- You probably also have older sources of the PBDEs known
as Deca in your home, and these are so toxic they are banned
in several states. Deca PBDEs can be found in electronics
like TVs, cell phones, kitchen appliances, fans, toner
cartridges, and more. It's a good idea to wash your hands
after handling such items, especially before eating, and at
the very least be sure you don't let infants mouth any of
these items (like your TV remote control or cell phone).
- As you replace PBDE-containing items around your home,
select those that contain naturally less flammable
materials, such as leather, wool, and cotton.
- Look for organic and "green" building materials,
carpeting, baby items, mattresses, and upholstery, which
will be free from these toxic chemicals and help reduce your
overall exposure. Furniture products filled with cotton,
wool, or polyester tend to be safer than chemical-treated
foam; some products also state that they are
"flame-retardant free."
- PBDEs are often found in household dust, so clean up
with a HEPA-filter vacuum and/or a wet mop often.
- If you want to avoid flame retardants in your mattress,
you can have a licensed health care provider write you a
prescription for a chemical-free mattress, which can then be
ordered without flame retardants from certain retailers. You
can also find certain natural mattresses on the market that
don’t contain them. For instance, most wool mattresses do
not have flame-retardant chemicals added because wool is a
natural flame retardant.
Copyright 1997- 2015 Dr. Joseph Mercola. All Rights Reserved.
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