Response to Comments on 'Polybrominated Diphenyl Ethers Contamination of United States Food'

摘要

We are responding to the comments from Hardy(1)of the Albemarle Corporation,a manufacturer of brominated flame retardants.In her letter,she comments on our recently published article on levels of PBDE brominated flame retardants in a market basket survey of U.S.food(2).We are surprised by her critical comments because all information in the article and draft versions of the article were shared with senior representatives of Albemarle prior to submission,and their comments were solicited by us.There was no response from Albemarle suggesting any problems with our data or our conclusions at that time.We shared our information and drafts months before publication with our colleagues in industry because we value their opinions.