As the health risks of PBDEs became clear, two scientists at the Environmental Protection Agency — Linda Birnbaum, a toxicologist,
and Janice Dye, a veterinarian — began to wonder whether the chemicals might also be responsible for the rise of hyperthyroidism in cats.
“I’ve devoted most of my time in the last 35 years to this,” said Peterson, who noted
that he has treated more than 10,000 hyperthyroid cats, “and I still have more questions than I have answers.”
Although definitive answers remain elusive, scientists are narrowing in on one possible explanation: A steady drumbeat of research links the strange feline disease to a common class of flame retardants
that have blanketed the insides of our homes for decades.
And at a conference this spring, Stapleton and her colleagues presented findings suggesting
that long-term exposure to PBDEs may be a risk factor for papillary thyroid cancer; according to the unpublished data, living in a home with high levels of one type of PBDE in the dust more than doubled the odds of having the disease.
