RMP Documents Decline of PBDEs in the Bay

The Regional Monitoring Program for Water Quality in San Francisco Bay (RMP) recently published a technical report, authored by Dr. Rebecca Sutton of SFEI and her colleagues, that summarizes a series of RMP monitoring and research projects that have investigated the impacts of the flame retardants polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) in San Francisco Bay.

Flame retardant use has become widespread in large part due to unusually strict flammability standards in the state of California. California Environmental Protection Agency studies of PBDEs in people and wildlife in the San Francisco Bay Area in the late 1990s and early 2000s revealed extremely high levels relative to the rest of the world, indicating the region is a global PBDE contamination “hot spot.” The RMP has found that PBDEs are widely detected in San Francisco Bay matrices including water and sediment, as well as in small and large tributaries to the Bay. These contaminants are also ubiquitous in Bay biota including bivalves, fish, bird eggs, and seals.

State and federal governments have responded to the rising environmental and human health concerns over PBDEs by enacting bans and encouraging voluntary phase-outs on production and use. Likely in response to the phase-outs and bans, RMP monitoring indicates a decline in contaminant levels for Bay organisms that are routinely monitored. This decline is expected to continue, and should diminish any potential impacts of PBDEs on Bay biota. A PBDE mass budget model developed by the RMP indicates that rapid recovery is expected with reduced contaminant loads as these compounds are removed from the market.

This report is a RMP product. The RMP is part of SFEI's Clean Water Program.