Richard Wiles of the Environmental Working Group (EWG) sent a letter yesterday to FDA commissioner Margaret Hamburg urging her to restrict the food industry s use of large plastic pallets used to ship, cool, and store produce that contain decabromodiphenyl ether (Deca), a flame retardant chemical alleged by some to be a neurotoxin.
I don t know how EWG can maintain credibility, says ACSH s Dr. Elizabeth Whelan. They have a different scare every week. They re basically saying everything is hazardous. These flame retardant reports are clearly based on animal testing and have no relevance to humans.
People become numb to this kind of report in general until the scare hits the fan, says ACSH s Dr. Gilbert Ross. In the meantime, people don t pay attention to it. That s why celebrities are getting all the attention when these issues get big. The scientists don t stand up and refute it like they should.
For more information, see ACSH s publication on flame retardants.