This is probably not a regular Wednesday feature, but I came across this article about flame retardants and cats that I found interesting. I have several. None have thyroid disease that I know of. Apparently lots of cats are getting thyroid disease, and scientists have linked it to flame retardants in furniture. The compounds polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs). Another source of PBDEs is in canned fish/seafood flavored cat food, such as salmon and whitefish. Cat diets based on fish-flavored canned food could have PBDE levels 12 times as high as dry-food diets. Cats may get more than 100 times greater dietary PBDE exposure than American adults. Another reason to be careful of what you feed your pets. Of course, humans have high PBDE exposure as well. It appears that we are killing ourselves–and our pets–with the chemicals we have used.

This article can be found online in the semi-monthly journal, Environmental Science and Technology, from the American Chemical Society.