Women with higher blood levels of PBDEs多溴联苯醚, a type of flame retardant抑制剂 commonly found in household consumer products消费品, took longer to become pregnant compared with women who have lower PBDE levels, according to a new study by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley. The study, to be published Jan. 26 in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives, found that each 10-fold increase in the blood concentration of four PBDE chemicals was linked to a 30 percent decrease in the odds¹机会，可能性 of becoming pregnant each month.

"There have been numerous animal studies that have found a range of health effects from exposure to PBDEs, but very little research has been done in humans. This latest paper is the first to address the impact on human fertility生育力，肥沃, and the results are surprisingly strong," said the study's lead author, Kim Harley, adjunct附属的 assistant professor of maternal² and child health and associate director of the Center for Children's Environmental Health Research at UC Berkeley's School of Public Health. "These findings need to be replicated³复制，折叠, but they have important implications含意，启示 for regulators."

PBDEs, or polybrominated diphenyl ethers多溴二苯醚, are a class of organobromine compounds有机溴化合物 that became commonplace after the 1970s when new fire safety standards were implemented执行，实施 in the United States. The flame retardants阻燃剂 are used in foam⁵ furniture, electronics, fabrics⁶, carpets, plastics and other common items in the home.

Studies have found widespread contamination of house dust by PBDEs, which are known to leach⁷过滤，萃取 out into the environment and accumulate in human fat cells. Studies also suggest that 97 percent of U.S. residents have detectable⁸ levels of PBDEs in their blood, and that the levels in Americans are 20 times higher than in their European counterparts相对物，副本. According to the researchers, residents in California are among those experiencing the highest exposures, most likely due to the state's relatively⁹ stringent迫切的，严厉的 flammability可燃性，易燃性 laws.

The researchers measured PBDE levels in blood samples from 223 pregnant women enrolled¹¹ in a longitudinal study纵向研究 at the Center for the Health Assessment¹² of Mothers and Children of Salinas (CHAMACOS) that examines environmental exposures and reproductive health.

The median concentrations of the four PBDE chemicals in the analysis were slightly lower in this study population than in the general U.S. population, possibly because many of the participants had grown up in Mexico where PBDE exposures are limited, said the authors of the study. The median number of months it took to get pregnant was three, with 15 percent of the participants taking longer than 12 months to conceive怀孕，构思.