Temporal Trends of Brominated Flame Retardants and Other Emerging POPs in Waters around East Asia: Retrospective Studies Using Archived Samples from es-Bank, Ehime University, Japan

Introduction Brominated flame retardants (BFRs) are a group of compounds that are added to a wide range of products, such as printed circuit boards, computer cases, electronic appliances, automobiles and construction materials to prevent the outbreak of fire. Among them, additive flame retardants like polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) and hexabromocyclododecanes (HBCDs) are the focus of current concerns due to their persistence, bioaccumulative nature, and possible adverse effects on humans and wildlife. Although the potential risk of these BFRs in wildlife is not clear, experimental studies using PBDEs and HBCDs have shown various effects including immunological and neurotoxic effects and propensity to disrupt thyroid hormone homeostasis (de Wit, 2002; Darnerud et al., 2001, Reistad et al., 2006).