 his
month, Dr. Per Ola Darnerud talks with Special Topics about
his paper, "Toxic effects of brominated flame retardants in
man and in wildlife" (Environ. Int. 29[6]:
841-53, September 2003), which is a core paper in our
Research Front on Brominated
Flame Retardants in the Environment, part of our Topic on
PBDEs. The paper currently has 99 citations to its credit.
According to
Essential
Science IndicatorsSM, Dr.
Darnerud’s record includes 20 papers, half of which are
classified in the field of Environment & Ecology, cited a
total of 558 times to date. Dr. Darnerud is a Senior
Toxicologist and Associate Professor at the National Food
Administration in Uppsala, Sweden. |
 Would
you please describe the significance of your paper and why it is highly
cited?
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“The health effects of BFRs have been
intensely discussed in recent years, and the area of BFR
toxicity is rapidly expanding.” |
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The paper reviews the toxic effects of brominated flame
retardants (BFRs) in man and in wildlife. The article gives an
updated (2003) and rather concise survey of studies on the toxicity
of several major bromine-containing flame retardants, i.e.
polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), tetrabromobisphenol A and
its derivates, hexabromocyclododecane(D) and polybrominated
biphenyls. The health effects of BFRs have been intensely discussed
in recent years, and the area of BFR toxicity is rapidly expanding.
In 2003, few reviews had been published and there was, and still is,
an increasing demand for such data.
How
did you become involved in this research, and were there any particular
successes or obstacles that stand out?
My own BFR research has been concentrated on the thyroid hormonal
effects of PBDEs in rodent models. The research was inspired by the
experimental work of Dr. Abraham Brouwer (at that time at the
University of Wageningen, Holland), studying mechanisms for thyroid
hormone effects of PCBs in rodents, and by
Dr. Åke Bergman, at the University of Stockholm, a chemist with
an interest in BFRs.
The first review in this area that I was involved in was produced
with Nordic cooperation in 1998 with economical support by the
Nordic Council of Ministers. A revised version of this Nordic report
on PBDE was later (2001) published as a review in an international
scientific journal. Being a civil servant at the Swedish National
Food Administration, the possibility for me to work in this area and
the support of my employer and by colleagues has been decisive in
affording the opportunity to produce the review paper in
Environment International.
Where
do you see your research and the broader field leading in the future?
The area of BFR toxicology has been vastly expanded in recent
years, and today, for economical and other reasons, my own
experimental studies may not be defined as front-line research.
However, there is at present an even greater need to overview and
compile BFR data, and this could be a suitable task for someone in
my position.
Does
your work have any social or political implications?
Both my experimental studies and my review work has resulted in
an increased awareness of the adverse effects of BFRs, and may have
had some impact in the process of restricting or prohibiting some
PBDE formulations from commercial markets.
Dr. Per Ola Darnerud
National Food Administration
Uppsala, Sweden
<• Return to
Research Front Map
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Dr. Per Ola Darnerud's
most-cited paper with 177 cites to date: |
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Darnerud, PO, et al., "Polybrominated
diphenyl ethers: Occurrence, dietary exposure, and
toxicology," ENVIRON HEALTH PERSP, 109 49-68
2001. |
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Dr. Per Ola Darnerud's
paper
represented in the Research
Front map with 99 cites to date: |
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Darnerud, PO, "Toxic effects of brominated flame
retardants in man and in wildlife," ENVIRON INT,
29 (6): 841-853 SEP 2003. |
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Source:
Essential Science Indicators. |
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A Closer Look...
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Below
are images sent in by Dr. Per Ola Darnerud which correspond with the featured
paper, or current research. |
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Figure 1:
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Figure1:
structural formulas of the main
BFR groups. |
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ESI Special
Topics: August 2007
Citing URL: http://esi-topics.com/pbde/interviews/RF-PerOlaDarnerud.html
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