Chemicals such as polybrominated diphenyl (PBDEs) have been used as flame retardants by the electronics industry since the 1970s and concern has been growing that the chemicals, used in monitors and processors, are seeping into homes and workplaces.
The Computer TakeBack Campaign and Clean Production Action swiped 16 samples of dust from processors and monitors in university labs, legislative offices and a children's museum, in eight different US states, in order to assess the level of contamination. They found PBDE residues in every case.
According to the report, published last week:
"Because these chemicals build up in the body, low levels of deca-BDE and other brominated chemicals found in the dust samples, no matter how small the amounts, are cause for concern as this study among others demonstrates that these chemicals are ubiquitous in our environment and immediately available for human ingestion."
The chemicals are among those to be banned in all new European products from 2006, following the implementation of the Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) Directive; but progress in the US has been state-based and haphazard, says the report.
The report's authors have therefore called on the US government to "focus its chemical policy on safer chemicals and materials" and demanded that it "be more proactive in pushing green chemistry solutions and sustainable product design". In particular, the phasing out of deca-BDE and all other PBDEs should be made a priority.