Study on characteristics and marine environmental pollution of polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs)

Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) have been used widely as a flame retardant in electrical and electronic equipments and for various composite materials. Domestic and international studies have shown that PBDEs is a new kind of global environmental pollutants which is poisonous and may negatively affect the development of liver, kidney and nervous system, interfere with thyroid endocrine, and induce mutation or cancers in organisms. Test results indicated that PBDEs pollution is a common phenomenon in the global marine environment. This paper summarized the characteristics and the marine environmental pollution of PBDEs, and put forward countermeasures for controlling the marine pollution of PBDEs.