Bioverfügbarkeit von PBDEs in Hausstaub

I just did a presentation at work about our project. Since I've never actually explained what it is I'm doing, now seems like a good time. I'll to make this as quick and painless as I can.

First, a translation of the title of the this post, which was also the title of my presentation: Bio availability of PBDEs in house dust.

Now a translation of that title: PBDEs = polybrominated diphenyl ethers. They look like this:
And can have anywhere from 1 - 10 Bromines on them.

In the late 1970s manufactures began using them on household things like furniture, carpet, and electronics as a fire retardant. This was all well and good until scientists noticed a dramatic increase in the number of cases of feline hyperthyroidism. (Cats with thyroid problems) They did further studies (some involving women and breast milk) and found that it is indeed these PBDEs that are the culprit.

In addition to thyroid problems, they have also been found to cause neurological developement problems in children and they are endocrine-disrupting.

In 2004 the EU (European Union) banned the production and usage as flame retardant of penta and octa PBDEs (the ones with 5 and 8 bromines on them) and the US only had one manufacturer of PBDEs so they agreed to also stop making them. However PBDE 209, which is deca PBDE is still at large.

This deca PBDE can break down into several other different types of PBDEs in the human body.

If you having a dusty home, you can breathe easy (hehe). Inhalation isn't that big of a deal. The main exposure route for people getting PBDEs into their system is hand to mouth contact. As you may have already concluded, it's worse for children since they go around licking everything and putting lots of things in their mouth.

**I don't know how paranoid some of you get, but before you go around disinfecting like a mad man, please note that most furniture and carpet today doesn't use PDBEs.**

Right now I am working with dust samples from the National Institute of Science and Technology (NIST 2585). We made synthetic salivia, stomach, and intestinal juices. We've sort of created an in lab digestive system. We put 1 gram of dust through this system and see what comes out. At the end we're left with around 0.6 g of the original 1. And we've determined that somewhere from 10-40% of the PBDEs originally present in the dust are absorbed into the digestive tract. We have plenty more samples to work with and we need to continue to refine the method. But that is the basic jist of my work.

Oh, and the state of Washington has also caught on: link

Toytown Germany

So my second week of work is shaping up to be much more interesting than the first. Right now I'm working with a lady named Lydia. I basically just watch/help her since I don't know where anything is and I've never operated any of the machines before. It's all pretty straight forward thus far. I'm understanding everything too. I'm even moving passed the just getting instructions into the making actual conversation zone. Lydia plays the bass guitar in a rock band. She said they're looking for a singer if I'm interested. However, I'll have you know she's probably in the age range of 40. But she's very nice.

Paul was really busy this past week and I didn't see him at all Tuesday through Saturday. So since at this point he was really my only social outlet, I decided to find another source. And of course, in this day and age, that source is at my fingertips: the internet. Many of you probably thing meeting people on the internet is dangerous and slightly lame. While I agree, it might be slightly lame, I went about it safely. The first thing I found was a site called toytowngermany.com. It's a forum for english speakers in Germany. I found it by googling english speakers and Berlin. There's a section specific to every area of Germany and it's the largest forum of this sort. People post questions they have about living in Germany as well events in which people are welcome to participate.

The first event I attended was Thursday night drinks. The advice for newcomers was to go to the bar at which they were meeting that week and look for the group of people speaking English. It worked nicely; they were very easy to find. It was nice, a lot of small talk, but still it's something to do on a Thursday.

The second event I attended was playing American football in Treptow park. Unfortunately, only 4 people showed up so it was more like playing catch and occasionally keepaway in the park. But those people were the easiest to get along with. And then we watched american football streamed on the internet at one of their apartments. Two of the guys are cousins from Detroit and the other is from Philly. It's going to be heated next week when the Packers play the Lions.

Mittwoch 3.September

What I've learned about myself so far: I have a short attention span.

I guess I never realized it before, but it was very apparent during the fantacy football draft (which lasted three hours) and it's apparent now while I'm at work. My first day at work (Monday) was nice. It was slighty boring at times, but it was nice. I met with the head of the Labor für Wasser Analytik (Lab for water analysis) who was the same guy who interviewed me, but not my direct supervisor. He's my supervisor's supervisor. He's around my parents' age I would say and wears fitted, faded jeans, T-shirts, and closed-toed sandals. He's very hip looking. We spoke for a bit, and then he gave me a tour of the place, including (he comes the fun part) my office! I have an office all to myself with a computer (where I am typing this now actually) and my own phone (extention 5719). I'm not good with spacial relations, but I think it's bigger than my room or at least the same size. Both of which are bigger than any room I've lived in thus far in life. But it's nothing gigantic, I've just had some pretty small rooms.

After the grand tour, I went with my direct supervisor (George Sawal), who sort of looks like Uncle Mike, to a Vortrag über Arbeitssicherheit und Umfallschutz. (Seminar on work safety and accident prevention). It was me and a bunch of new Auszubildene (trainees) all of whom were in college. I'm a Praktikantin (intern) which is different. I'm sure you've all experienced the work saftey lectures when starting new jobs in the states. They are, in general, pretty boring. Let me tell you, when it's in another language, it makes it 10 times easier to not pay any attention.

After that there was an Einführung in die Aufgaben des UBA (introduction to the duties and responsibilities of the UBA). This was as thrilling as the first lecture. Then I had to sign some papers and get a few more office related things, after which I went to a neighboring lab to have a tour of that. It had nothing to do with my job, but I couldn't get started until Herr Sawal gave me the saftey speach about the specific labs I'd be working in, which he couldn't do until the next day. So I went with the college kids to the lab with the animals. It was the biological department with the animals the do research on. So we got to see all of the different types of flies, rats, and roaches. By this point, everyone knew I was american because we had all introduced ourselves, so everytime we got to the American coachroaches or lice or whatever it was, people would look at me.

And that was my first day of work. All in all, it was pretty painless. Yesterday, during my second day of work, I got introduced to the research I'll be doing. Herr Sawal explained the background to me, and then Anja, the girl I will physically be working with, handed me a gigantic stack of stuff to read. Everything is in English except for one (the one I'm working through now). All of this reading has taught me that I have a shorter attention span than I thought. On an exciting note, I got a lab coat and gloves and goggles yesterday on my lab saftey tour. I've never had a lab coat before. This is the real deal! I should get back to reading.