| ECOLOGY |
Fish break down flame retardant The flame retardant decabromodiphenyl ether (deca-BDE, shown) debrominates inside carp. Young fish that were fed worms spiked with pure deca-BDE for 60 days stored up small amounts of seven debrominated metabolites, according to professor of environmental chemistry Joel E. Baker at the University of Maryland [Environ. Sci. Technol., published online Nov. 4, http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/es034746j]. Baker suspects the metabolic breakdown of deca-BDE is happening in the carp's gut and, because his group saw no accumulation of deca-BDE at all, most of the deca-BDE travels out of the fish. Deca-BDE is the fully brominated form of polybrominated diphenyl ethers--the persistent environmental pollutants--and has been kept largely out of the fray over lesser brominated forms because it is less likely to be taken up by organisms (C&EN, Nov. 17, pages 43 and 49). Baker says that less than 1% of the deca-BDE fed to the carp accumulated in the fish as lighter BDEs, including penta- and hexa-BDEs. But, he adds, "if we charge up the sediments with a lot of deca-BDE and it slowly bleeds out over time, then it is going to be with us for a while." |
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