Water Resource Collections and Archives

PBDEs in Bay Area Fish

Organization: Environmental Working Group
2002 Grant Recipient
Organization is based in Alameda County; samples were taken from throughout the Bay.

Purpose

To conduct a study of Poly Brominated Dimethyl Ethers (PBDE) in fish from the San Francisco Bay in order to urge regional water quality authorities to set discharge standards for these persistent organic pollutants.

Levels of a little-known class of neurotoxic chemicals found in computers, TV sets, cars and furniture are building up rapidly in key indicator species of San Francisco Bay fish, according to tests by the Environmental Working Group (EWG).

Tests on six kinds of commonly eaten Bay fish found PBDEs (polybrominated diphenyl ethers) in every fish sampled. Fish caught last fall by local anglers were compared with archived samples from 1997, and PBDE levels more than doubled in halibut and more than tripled in striped bass - the two most commonly eaten Bay fish and key indicators of overall contamination.

Complete results of the tests - the first for PBDEs in San Francisco Bay fish - add to the evidence that the Bay Area is a hotspot for pollution from brominated chemicals used in commercial fire retardants.

Documents

• Tainted Catch: Brominated fire retardants (PBDEs) found in San Francisco Bay fish / By Sonya Lunder, and Renee Sharp, [July 2003.] (51 pp.)
  
  
• PBDEs in San Francisco Bay -- Final Report to the San Francisco Foundation / Environmental Working Group, July 2003. (5 pp.)
  
  
• Detailed charts about PBDEs and their levels in fish in the San Francisco Bay Area. (3 pp.)

Contacts for the Project

Sonya Lunder, MPH
Senior Analyst
Renee Sharp, M.S.
Senior Scientist
Environmental Working Group
Phone: 202-667-6982