:)
Wendy
 
"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the 
world - indeed it is the only thing that ever has!"     ~~~ Margaret Meade ~~~




The article pointed to another website: 

http://www.everyday health.com/ publicsite/ ShowArticle. aspx?
IsP=news/607/ news607358. xml&cen=HC: %20IBS

which has more information on specific research.
~~~~~~

Chemical Flame Retardants Linked to Thyroid Disease in Cats

Print This Page Send to a Friend 

Published: 08/15/07
WEDNESDAY, Aug. 15 (HealthDay News) -- A mysterious epidemic of 
thyroid disease in pet cats in the United States may be due to dust 
from fire-retardant chemicals used in carpets, furniture, mattresses, 
electronic products and even pet food, researchers report.

And while the researchers said there's no evidence to suggest a 
threat to humans posed by the chemicals -- called polybrominated 
diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) -- they can't rule out the possibility.

"Cats are very highly exposed to these chemicals, and the levels in 
cats are higher than the levels in people," said researcher Linda S. 
Birnbaum, director of the Experimental Toxicology Division at the 
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. "But cats may be a good 
indicator of indoor exposure to humans," she added.

Symptoms of hyperthyroidism in cats include weight loss, increased 
appetite, hair loss and irritability. Hyperthyroid cats could serve 
as modern-day versions of the canaries in coal mines that alerted 
miners to poisonous gas, said Birnbaum, who added that 
hyperthyroidism is treatable in cats as well as people.

Feline hyperthyroidism is one of the most common and deadly diseases 
in older cats, and indoor pets are thought to be at greatest risk, 
Birnbaum said. Because of their conscientious grooming, cats ingest 
large amounts of house dust containing PBDEs.

Concerns about health effects from PDBEs began in the late 1990s, and 
studies have found that the chemicals cause liver and nerve toxicity 
in animals. "In addition, a recent study found an association with 
house dust and the levels of PDBEs in breast milk in women," Birnbaum 
said.

Many PBDEs, such as penta, which was used in polyurethane foam for 
furniture cushions and pillows, have been phased out either 
voluntarily by manufacturers or by bans from states and the U.S. 
government and governments overseas.

Despite these bans, BBDEs are environmentally persistent compounds, 
so it will take a long time before they disappear from the 
environment, Birnbaum said.

She noted that the EPA is looking for safer alternatives to some of 
the chemicals that will be fire resistant but not pose a potential 
health threat to animals or humans. So far, 14 alternative flame 
retardants have been evaluated, and furniture foam manufacturers are 
using new alternatives, according to the EPA.

In the new study, published in the Aug. 15 online issue of 
Environmental Science & Technology, Birnbaum and her colleagues took 
blood samples from 23 cats, 11 of which suffered from 
hyperthyroidism. They found that the cats with the disease had levels 
of PDBEs that were three times higher than younger cats and cats 
without the condition.

PBDEs are also found in canned cat food, particularly in fish/seafood 
flavors, such as salmon and whitefish. An analysis showed that diets 
based on canned food could have PBDE levels 12 times higher than dry-
food diets. For these reasons, cats could be receiving as much as 100 
times greater dietary PBDE exposure than American adults, the 
researchers said.

The danger of feline hyperthyroidism might be higher in the United 
States, where people have the highest reported PBDE levels worldwide, 
according to the report. In addition, by the late 1990s, North 
America accounted for almost half of the worldwide demand for PBDEs 
for commercial materials such as furniture and upholstery.

The epidemic of hyperthyroidism in cats began almost 30 years ago, 
experts say, at the same time that PBDEs were introduced into 
household materials for fire-prevention. Now the disease has been 
seen in Canada, Australia, Japan and many parts of Europe.

Hyperthyroidism has also increased in people. For example, former 
President George H.W. Bush and First Lady Barbara Bush have the 
condition, as does Millie, their Springer Spaniel.

More information

For more information on PBDEs, visit the Washington State Department 
on Ecology.

--- In feline-hyperT@ yahoogroups. com, "swierzop" <[EMAIL PROTECTED] .> wrote:
>
> 
> > I was just sent this article. It makes perfect sense. My vet 
says
> > that Hyper-T tends to run in the same households.. ..and they 
didn't
> > know why...now it looks like they do.
> 
> I'm sorry but the article points to a correlation between specific
> poisons and the epidemic of hyper-t. To show a cause you'd have to 
show
> HOW it is achieved, and that has not been done. This article is no
> different than the one showing a correlation between the use of 
litter
> boxes and hyper-t. Or the use of canned food and hyper-t...
> 
> We still don't know what causes hyper-t. Nothing has changed.
> 
> Post hoc ergo protper hoc (after this therefore because of this) - 
an
> old Latin logical rule prompting us to remember that if B follows A 
it
> does not necessarily mean A caused B.
> 
> A speculation: I do believe that the cause of the adenoma has roots 
in
> poison - this or other - but it is not so simple, there are other
> elements involved... Otherwise why hyper-t and not liver failure? 
Why
> hyper-t and not lung damage? Why hyper-t and not cancer?
> 
> So caution please...
> 
> 
> Alice, Ignatz (in spirit), Kacper and the crew
>


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