Mysterious Seal Deaths Linked To Chems

It's a great irony of the modern world that attempts to make us safer sometimes make us less so. Fire causes billions of dollars in damage every year and kills thousands. Plastic items like small electronic gear and building materials are petroleum-based and would be very flammable if not for chemicals added during the manufacturing process known as brominated flame retardants, or BFRs. But researchers are now finding that these chemicals have entered our food chain and might have a role in the recent deaths of hundreds of seals u" and could ultimately be harming people as well. "The highest levels (of BFRs) in the world are in the U.S., 10 to 40 times higher than Asia and Europe," said Susan Shaw, an environmental toxicologist attempting to solve the mysterious deaths of as many as 1,000 otherwise healthy adult harbor seals and gray seals along the New England coastline over the past three years. The National Marine Fisheries Service declared two "unusual mortality events" for seals, one in 2004 and one in 2006...