Devarajan Shanmuganathan (PhD Student)
University of South Australia

Project Title
Fate and behavoir of brominated flame retardants in soil

Biography
Devarajan worked as junior research fellow in the department of Environmental Sciences at Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, India, for one and half years. During that period he focussed on bioremediation of textile dye effluents using microbes and toxicity of treated effluent on plants.  Devarajan then worked as senior research fellow in water technology centre at Tamil Nadu Agricultural University and ESSEM ENVIROTECH company at Tirpur in India for 18 months. There he worked in treating sewage effluent using microbes and utilisation of treated waste for agricultural crops through drip irrigation.

Start Date
February 2007

Project Details
The brominated flame retardants are used for manufacture of polyurethane foam, computers and electornics products are found ubiquitous in the environment. These brominated flame retardants are harmful to wildlife, cause neurobehavioral toxicity, disrupt thyroid hormone levels, induce fetal toxicity and effect reproductive function in laboratory animals. In human beings polybrominated diphenyl ethers have been detected in adipose tissues, breast milk and the maternal and fetal blood of mothers. The presence of PBDEs in the foetus and newborn babies may leads to vulnerability, as human brain development begins early during fetal development and continues throughout pregnancy. The exposure to PBDEs may result in neurological impairments in children when the fetal and maternal thyroid hormone levels decreases. PBDEs may enter the human body through the consumption of meat, dairy products, fish and inhalation household dusts.

In Australia every year, 500 tonnes of brominated flame retardants are imported of which 340 tonnes are PBDEs. In 2002 and 2003 breast milk samples collected from the 12 regions of Australia were found to contain PBDEs. Sewage sludges are amended to the soil as organic fertilizers; these contain PBDEs and are subsequently one of the main sources of PBDEs to the soil. The objective is to study the fate brominated flame retardants in soil, bioavailability and toxicity to soil biota and bioremediation.