Flame retardants easily migrate to people's hands, cellphones

June 9 (UPI) -- New research suggests many people's hands and cellphones are regularly contaminated by toxic flame retardants.

When scientists tested handheld devices in people's homes, including cellphones and tablets, they found larger amounts of several kinds of flame retardants than on non-handheld devices, like desktop computers.

The findings, published this week in the journal Environmental Science and Technology Letters, suggests flame retardants can easily migrate from TVs to people's hands and eventually onto frequently handled devices, like phones.

"It's well-known that viruses are transferred between surfaces and hands," study co-author Miriam Diamond, professor at the University of Toronto, said in a news release. "Our study shows that toxic chemicals like flame retardants do the same. That's another reason we should all wash our hands often and well."

When scientists analyzed chemical residues on the surfaces of phones, they measured elevated levels of halogenated flame retardants and organophosphate flame retardants, as well as polybrominated diphenyl ethers, a chemical that has long been banned.

Studies have shown flame retardants disrupt human hormones, reproductive systems and thyroid and metabolic functions. Exposure to flame retardants has even been linked to certain cancers.

So, why are flame retardants all over TVs? For the last several decades, TVs have deployed what's called a cathode ray tube. The technology helps TVs quickly project an image after being turned on, but when they were first introduced in the 1970s, they were blamed for a rise in TV fires.

Regulators and manufacturers quickly developed flammability standards, and TV makers began spraying TV cases with large amounts of flame retardants.

Modern TVs are much less flammable than they were several decades ago, but manufacturers continue to douse them in flame retardants. Now, researchers have shown those toxic -- and unnecessary -- chemicals don't stay put.

"If a flame retardant is used in the TVs, we then find it throughout the house, including on the hands of the resident," said co-author Lisa Melymuk, an assistant professor of environmental chemistry at Masaryk University in the Czech Republic.

Thorough hand-washing can help protect people from more than COVID-19, authors of the new paper say -- it can help people avoid exposure to common flame retardants.

"However, to reduce health harm from flame retardants, the electronics industry should stop their unnecessary use," said Arlene Blum, executive director of the Green Science Policy Institute. "Fire safety can be achieved by innovative product design and materials instead of the use of toxic chemicals that can remain in our homes -- and in us -- for years to come."