UC-Berkeley’s anti-flame retardant crusader Brenda Eskenazi is back at it with a new study claiming to link maternal exposure to polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) with reduced infant birth weight.
Although the reported correlation between maternal PBDE serum levels and infant birth weight vanished into statistical insignificance when enough potential confounding risk factors were considered, Eskenazi nevertheless said in a media release that,
“There is a growing body of evidence that PBDE exposure impacts human health, and not a lot of evidence that these chemicals are making our homes safer from fires… Other chemical flame retardants are replacing the old PBDEs, but more information is needed about exposure to the newer chemicals. More attention should also be given to finding non-chemical approaches to achieving fire safety.
As discussed last April in “PBDE study spotlights need for junk science retardants, we’re not sure what “growing body of evidence” to which Eskenazi refers, but we’re glad to easily extinguish her 10-alarm junk science.
Wow, really? I could have used that, I suppose, considering mine weighed 8.5 lbs at birth.
…and the data miners have once again discovered Fool’s Gold.
What exactly would “non-chemical approaches to achieving fire safety” be? Anything one would use would be a chemical.
How stupid does this “researcher” (I have a better word, but my post will be deleted). Women were recruited from a clinic for low income people. There’s your low birth weight. We should start pulling Ph.D.s
With the flame retardant everywhere, are we saying that all babies now have lower birth weights? Or are they saying that a large number of babies with low birth weights have parents who were exposed to the stuff?
Have they run the correlations on parents’ exposure to air and water yet?
I suppose they will never run out of fodder for their green cannon. Obviously an Esken Nazi on steroids.