Bromine

When starting The Iodine Protocol, or just increasing our unrefined salt intake, we may find ourselves dislodging and detoxing bromine. Bromine is iodine’s evil sibling that makes it harder for our body to remain saturated with iodine. Today’s environment of new products gassing off, medications and food ingredients etc are overloading us with bromine while most of us are not exposed to much iodine at all.

How much could we really have?

Since the 1970s, brominated and chlorinated flame retardants have been applied to textiles, foam in couches and baby products, building insulation, carpets, drapes, personal computers, TV sets, car dashboards, electrical cables and many other products.

Because they are not chemically bound to material but incorporated during manufacturing or sprayed on afterward, they routinely escape as vapor or airborne particles that tend to stick to surfaces or settle in dust.

These compounds are building up in human fat, seminal fluid¹ and breast milk. During the past 30 years, Hites reported in 2004, PBDE levels in human blood, milk and tissue increased by a factor of 100 — essentially doubling every five years.²

Read more at Flame retardants in consumer products are linked to health and cognitive problems – The Washington Post

Is it really that bad for us?

A child’s exposure to bromine, whether before or after birth, is associated with poorer attention, fine motor coordination and cognition. ³

How are we exposed to bromine?

• Food via chemicals used to grow it
• Disinfectants and water sanitation
• Flame retardants to reduce furniture and other item’s flammability

1. House dust concentrations of organophosphate flame retardants in relation to hormone levels and semen quality parameters – Environ Health Perspect . 2010 Mar;118(3):318-23. doi: 10.1289/ehp.0901332. – http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20194068
2. Flame retardants in consumer products are linked to health and cognitive problems – The Washington Post By Liza GrossApril 15, 2013 https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/flame-retardants-in-consumer-products-are-linked-to-health-and-cognitive-problems/2013/04/15/f5c7b2aa-8b34-11e2-9838-d62f083ba93f_story.html
3. In utero and childhood polybrominated diphenyl ether (PBDE) exposures and neurodevelopment in the CHAMACOS study – Environ Health Perspect. 2013 Feb;121(2):257-62. doi: 10.1289/ehp.1205597. Epub 2012 Nov 15. – https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23154064/