What in the world? This title is extremely editorialized. I encourage readers to actually assess the evidence in the journal article: <a href="https://pubs.acs.org/doi/suppl/10.1021/acs.est.9b02226/suppl_file/es9b02226_si_001.pdf" rel="nofollow">https://pubs.acs.org/doi/suppl/10.1021/acs.est.9b02226/suppl...</a><p>1) It's important to note that the article title is actually: Flame retardant may cause hyperthyroidism in cats<p>2) Of note, they determined that a p-value of <0.10 was considered statistically significant, and of the studied compounds TDCIPP was the only one with significant odds ratio of exposure being associated with hyperthyroidism in cats (1.36, p value = 0.059).<p>3) Look. Organophosphates are probably one of those things that we should continue studying in detail. They seem more trouble than they're worth. But I don't think I'd hang my hat on this study alone.
Its insane. I always hear that level of chemical is so low it has no negative effect on a person. But you add up all the low levels of toxic chemicals and they add up to something significant! Pesticides, detergents, personal products such as perfumes, hair dye, make-up.. oh gosh. The list goes on. People are drenching themselves in chemicals then take pills to mask the effects.<p>And its expensive to avoid these things, my family of three spend about 2K per month on food alone trying to eat healthy. Nothing extravagant, fruits, vegetables, and organic when it matters. Sure we could live on $400 with highly processed or fast food... but you feel terrible afterword. The longer you stay away from them the more sensitive you are to toxic food.
> The cats wore the tags for a week and owners filled out a questionnaire. Once collected, the tags went through a process to extract the chemicals by soaking them in a solvent.<p>Do we use these tags for humans? Would be cool to see what sort of chemical exposure we get.
It’s a public health menace that has also been implicated with childhood maladies. There’s some weak links to autism and allergies. Of course most people will dismiss this as conspiracy theory, but eventually the science will catch up.
Seem alike rooting out actually toxic substances, like leaded gasoline, is so important. Kudos to the experimenter here for the clever experimental design (cat collars that absorb chemicals for later study).
The title of the article <i>doesn’t</i> says that hyperthyroidism is 20x times higher because of flame retardants. I’m not sure if the article’s title was changed, or edited by the OP.<p>The odds ratios for the levels of thyroid hormone in cats exposed to the compounds detected are no higher than 1.61x times higher.<p>The 20x increase is an increase over time, and isn’t explained by the paper or the article.
I wonder what fraction of modern disease, and what conditions, are due to prolonged low-level exposure to random slightly toxic chemicals. I wouldn’t be surprised if we found out that relatively recently diagnosed conditions like autism are the result of some random seemingly innocuous product like shampoo detergent or sunscreen or something.
If I am to err on the side of caution:<p>Can fire retardants be filtered by commercial off-the-shelf Air Filters?<p>If yes what type of tech or air filter type would filter these? For the sake of 'neutrality' would prefer a discussion focused on the working principle of the filter tech instead of just casual 'product naming'.
We've been introducing new flame retardants, discovering they are toxic, rinse, repeat on a 10-year cadence since something like the 70's. We're just about coming due for the next wave of discovery.