Tetrabromobisphenol A
3,3`,5,5`-Tetrabromobisphenol A (TBP) is a chemical used in industry as a flame retardant treatment for paper and textiles as well as an additive during the manufacture of plastics, polymers and circuit boards. TBP is not believed to be carcinogenic or mutagenic to humans. However, TBP is toxic to life in aquatic envioronments and has a 50% lethal dose for fish of 0.4 or 0.54 mg/L and 50% effective concentration of 0.96 mg/L for Daphnia magna. A report on TBA and its derivatives has been produced by the International Programme on Chemical Safety. TBP is nonvolatile and is not mobile in the soil partially because TBP is insoluble in water (<1 mg/liter) at a pH of 7.0. In soils with increased pH levels the solubility of TBP is significantly increased and can leach into and contaminate groundwater below contaminated soil. This pathway is based on [http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10831413|Ronen and Abeliovich, 2000] and [http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14669869|Arbeli and Ronen, 2003].