Flame retardant not in milk after flooding

NORWICH, England, June 9 (UPI) -- River farmland flooding can increase flame retardant levels in farm soil but British researchers say the PBDEs do not seem to find their way into milk.

Iain Lake of the University of East Anglia in Norwich, England, and colleagues say the PBDEs are found in a variety of household products such as furniture upholstery, textiles, cars, plastics and electrical equipment.

PBDEs "are increasingly being associated with endocrine disruption, neurotoxicity, reproductive and developmental toxicity, and potential cancer in animals studies," the study authors say in a statement.

Fatty foods such as milk and meat accumulate PBDEs, making those foods a potentially significant source of PBDEs consumed by humans, Lake says.

Working along the River Trent in England, the researchers examined PBDE levels in the soils, grass and milk from grazing cows in flood-prone and non-flooded farms.

The flood-prone fields contained significantly higher levels of PBDE from river sediments but the researchers did not find an increase in PBDE levels in the grass growing in the soil.

"This study provides no clear evidence that the grazing of dairy cattle on flood-prone pastures on an urban and industrial river system leads to elevated PBDE levels in milk," Lake says.

The study is published in the journal Environmental Science & Technology.