Hexabromobiphenyl in the bedroom

At a glance

Regulatory & certification status

Where hexabromobiphenyl stands across the major regulatory systems. This is one of the few compounds in the Atlas where the answer is short in every jurisdiction, because the substance left commerce before most of these instruments existed. Where a jurisdiction's status could not be confirmed from the primary source, that is said plainly rather than guessed at.

What it is

Hexabromobiphenyl is a brominated flame retardant, the direct chemical ancestor of the PBDEs that replaced it. It was blended into plastic rather than chemically bonded to it, which is what makes a retardant "additive" and what lets it migrate out over a product's life. ATSDR's profile records the uses: "Prior to termination of production, hexabromobiphenyl was used as a fire retardant mainly in thermoplastics for constructing business machine housings and in industrial (e.g., motor housing), and electrical (e.g., radio and TV parts) products. Smaller amounts were used as a fire retardant in coating and lacquers, and in polyurethane foam for auto upholstery." Regulatory — ATSDR Toxicological Profile for PBBs (2004)

The name hides an awkward detail worth stating up front. CAS 36355-01-8 does not identify one molecule. ATSDR's own minimal-risk-level worksheet calls it "36355-01-8 (unspecified hexabromo mixture)", and NTP describes hexabromobiphenyl as "one of 101 PBBs compounds in the CAS Registry system" and as the main component of the FireMaster mixtures. The single congener that biomonitoring programmes and dust surveys actually measure is 2,2',4,4',5,5'-hexabromobiphenyl, PBB-153, CAS 59080-40-9. Regulations key on the mixture; measurements key on the congener, and the two numbers do not join automatically. Regulatory — NTP 15th Report on Carcinogens

Production ended for a specific reason. In 1973 a quantity of FireMaster was mistaken for a cattle-feed supplement in Michigan and entered the state's food supply. The sole US producer ceased manufacture in November 1974, and nothing has been made since. Regulatory — NTP 15th Report on Carcinogens: "The sole U.S. producer of hexabromobiphenyl ceased production in November 1974"

Where it shows up

Not in anything you can buy. There is no ongoing bedroom source, and there has not been one for fifty years. What remains is residue, and it reaches a home by three routes.

Settled dust. Hexabromobiphenyl is a heavy, low-volatility solid that binds to particles and stays put. It is still carried as an analyte in modern indoor-dust surveys: a 2021 study of urban indoor dust in Hanoi reported that PBB-153, alongside BTBPE and PBEB, "were found at very low levels", while the replacement retardant DBDPE accounted for a mean 98.6% of the novel brominated flame retardants measured. The compound is findable, and it is a rounding error next to what took its place. Peer-reviewed — Hoang et al. 2021

As an impurity in something else. NTP records that "PBBs have been detected as impurities in PBDEs, at concentrations of total PBBs ranging from 58 to 4,025 ng/g in PBDE products." Older polyurethane foam, carpet underlay and electronics treated with PBDEs can therefore carry trace PBB that nobody put there on purpose. Regulatory — NTP 15th Report on Carcinogens

The body burden people already carry. This is the largest of the three and the least intuitive. It is discussed below.

What the research says

Still measurable in most Americans

CDC researchers analysed NHANES serum pools from 2005/06 through 2013/14 and detected BB153 in 77% of them. Their explanation for a chemical that left commerce in the 1970s is its persistence: "although BB153 has not been commercially produced in the United States since the 1970s, its biological half-life, estimated to be 11 years" accounts for its continued detection in recently collected serum. Concentrations were 40% higher in males than in females. Peer-reviewed — Sjödin et al. 2019

Canadian data say the same thing from a different angle. Nursing women sampled in the Sherbrooke region in 2008 and 2009 carried BB-153 in both serum and breast milk, with median lipid-adjusted concentrations of 0.48 and 0.31 ng/g lipid respectively, and detection frequencies above 55% in both matrices. That sampling happened more than thirty years after the compound left production. Peer-reviewed — Zhou et al. 2014

A cancer classification built on mechanism, not on human data

IARC evaluated polybrominated biphenyls as a class in Monographs Volume 107 and concluded: "Polybrominated biphenyls are probably carcinogenic to humans (Group 2A) on the basis of mechanistic similarities to polychlorinated biphenyls." The same Working Group found the evidence in humans inadequate, and found sufficient evidence in animals only for FireMaster FF-1, with limited evidence for PBB-153 itself. Group 2A here is a read-across from PCBs, not a finding that people exposed to PBBs got more cancer. That distinction is worth keeping, in both directions: it is neither a dismissal nor a proof. Regulatory — IARC Monographs Volume 107, Section 6

The number nobody has

ATSDR states it flatly: "No MRLs have been derived for inhalation exposure to PBBs because human and animal data for all durations are either insufficient or lacking." The compound is likewise absent from EPA's Regional Screening Level summary table. Fifty years of measuring this substance in people, and there is still no published inhalation reference value to set any air or dust measurement against. Presence has been established; dose has not. Regulatory — ATSDR Toxicological Profile for PBBs (2004)

That absence is the reason this page exists at all, and it is a Dose Gap entry rather than a scare story.

What helps

Understand that nothing you buy today is the problem. No purchase decision puts hexabromobiphenyl into a bedroom. Effort spent screening new products for it is effort spent on nothing. Regulatory — production ceased November 1974 (NTP); prohibited under EU/UK POPs Annex I and Stockholm Annex A

Remove dust rather than filter air. Damp-wipe hard surfaces, and vacuum with a sealed HEPA machine including under and behind the bed where dust sits undisturbed for months. For a heavy brominated solid, dust removal is the entire intervention. Inferred — from the compound's low volatility and its documented persistence in settled indoor dust

Wash hands before eating, and keep crawling infants off bare floors during floor time. Hand-to-mouth ingestion of settled dust, not breathing, is the realistic route for dust-bound brominated retardants, and small children take in far more dust per kilogram of body weight than adults. Inferred — from the exposure route implied by a non-volatile, dust-bound compound

Deal with degrading pre-2005 polyurethane foam. Old mattress toppers, upholstered furniture and carpet underlay are the reservoir. Replacing, encasing or sealing them does not target hexabromobiphenyl specifically; it reduces the whole brominated load, and trace PBB rides along inside older PBDE formulations. Regulatory — NTP: total PBBs at 58 to 4,025 ng/g detected as impurities in PBDE products

Time. The biological half-life is about eleven years and US serum levels have been falling. Ending intake is what matters; the body handles the rest slowly and reliably. Peer-reviewed — Sjödin et al. 2019

What does not help

• Air purifiers. This is a low-volatility solid that lives on particles and in settled dust, not in the air phase. A HEPA unit is worth owning for other reasons and is not an answer to this compound. Inferred — from the compound's volatility profile
• Airing out a new mattress. Hexabromobiphenyl is not a VOC and does not off-gas. Off-gassing advice belongs on other pages. Inferred
• Buying a mattress advertised as "PBB-free". The sole US producer stopped in November 1974, and manufacture, sale and use are now prohibited across the EU, UK and Canada. The claim is true of every mattress on the market, so it tells you nothing. Regulatory — EU POPs Annex I Part A; SOR/2025-270 Schedule 1; Stockholm Annex A
• Paying to test a product for it. There is no plausible source to find. The money buys a null result you could have predicted. Inferred
• "Detox" protocols. Infrared saunas, chelation, binders and cleanse supplements do not act on an eleven-year half-life set by fat storage and hepatic metabolism. No consumer intervention has been shown to shorten it. Inferred — from the pharmacokinetics implied by an 11-year biological half-life
• Treating it as a current exposure. The people carrying a meaningful body burden are overwhelmingly the Michigan cohort exposed through contaminated food in 1973 to 1974, and their children. That is a serious health story and it is not the same story as ordinary household dust. Inferred — from the production history and the absence of any current commercial source

Open research questions

• No inhalation reference value exists at any duration. ATSDR derived only an acute oral MRL and states plainly that no inhalation MRL could be derived because the data are insufficient or lacking; the compound is absent from EPA's screening-level table. Until someone publishes an inhalation benchmark, no dust or air measurement can be interpreted. Regulatory — ATSDR (2004)
• No published measurement of hexabromobiphenyl in bedroom dust, as distinct from whole-home, office, vehicle or general urban indoor dust, was found. This site will not imply a bedroom-specific number exists. Speculation — an evidence gap, not a finding
• How much of the PBB still detected in serum comes from residual 1970s exposure and how much from ongoing low-level intake of PBB impurities in older PBDE products. NTP documents the impurity concentrations; no study apportioning current body burden between the two routes was located. Speculation
• The two CAS numbers may cause silent under-counting in cross-dataset joins. Regulatory instruments key on 36355-01-8, the unspecified mixture; NHANES, CHMS and the dust literature key on PBB-153, 59080-40-9. A join built on one number alone will match the law and miss the measurements. Inferred — from the CAS designations recorded in the source documents
• Australia's IChEMS schedule assignment and its date of effect remain unverified against the primary register. Speculation — pending primary-source confirmation

Citations

1. IARC Working Group on the Evaluation of Carcinogenic Risks to Humans (2016). Polychlorinated Biphenyls and Polybrominated Biphenyls — Polybrominated Biphenyls, Section 6: Evaluation. IARC Monographs on the Evaluation of Carcinogenic Risks to Humans No. 107. International Agency for Research on Cancer. Group 2A on mechanistic similarity to PCBs; evidence in humans inadequate. NCBI Bookshelf Regulatory
2. National Toxicology Program (2021). Polybrominated Biphenyls — substance profile, 15th Report on Carcinogens. US Department of Health and Human Services. CAS 36355-01-8 identification; FireMaster composition; production ceased November 1974; PBB impurities in PBDE products at 58–4,025 ng/g. NCBI Bookshelf NBK590927 Regulatory
3. Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (2004). Toxicological Profile for Polybrominated Biphenyls. US Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service. No inhalation MRL derivable at any duration; CAS 36355-01-8 recorded as an unspecified hexabromo mixture; pre-1974 uses. atsdr.cdc.gov Regulatory
4. Secretariat of the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (2009). The New POPs under the Stockholm Convention. UNEP. Hexabromobiphenyl listed in Annex A without specific exemptions by decision SC-4/13 at COP-4, 4–8 May 2009. chm.pops.int Regulatory
5. European Parliament and Council of the European Union (2019). Regulation (EU) 2019/1021 on persistent organic pollutants (recast), Annex I Part A, read as UK assimilated law. "Hexabromobiphenyl 36355-01-8 252-994-2 —"; Article 3(1) prohibits manufacture, placing on the market and use. legislation.gov.uk Regulatory
6. Sjödin A, Jones RS, Wong L-Y, Caudill SP, Calafat AM (2019). Polybrominated Diphenyl Ethers and Biphenyl in Serum: Time Trend Study from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey for Years 2005/06 through 2013/14. Environmental Science & Technology 53(11):6018–6024. BB153 detected in 77% of serum pools; biological half-life estimated at 11 years. DOI 10.1021/acs.est.9b00471 (PMID 31002243) Peer-reviewed
7. Zhou SN, Buchar A, Siddique S, Takser L, Abdelouahab N, Zhu J (2014). Measurements of Selected Brominated Flame Retardants in Nursing Women: Implications for Human Exposure. Environmental Science & Technology 48(15):8873–8880. BB-153 median 0.48 ng/g lipid in serum and 0.31 ng/g lipid in milk, Sherbrooke region, Canada, 2008–2009. DOI 10.1021/es5016839 (PMID 24992303) Peer-reviewed
8. Hoang MTT, Anh HQ, Kadokami K, Duong HT, Hoang HM, Van Nguyen T, Takahashi S, Le GT, Trinh HT (2021). Contamination status, emission sources, and human health risk of brominated flame retardants in urban indoor dust from Hanoi, Vietnam. Environmental Science and Pollution Research 28(32):43885–43896. BB-153 found at very low levels; DBDPE a mean 98.6% of total novel brominated flame retardants. DOI 10.1007/s11356-021-13822-9 (PMID 33837942) Peer-reviewed

Frequently asked questions

• What is hexabromobiphenyl?

  Hexabromobiphenyl is a brominated flame retardant, the main component of the FireMaster commercial mixtures sold in the early 1970s. It was blended into thermoplastics for business-machine housings and for electrical products such as radio and television parts, with smaller amounts going into coatings, lacquers and polyurethane foam for car upholstery. The sole US producer stopped making it in November 1974. CAS 36355-01-8 names an unspecified hexabromo mixture rather than one molecule; the congener actually measured in dust and in people is PBB-153, CAS 59080-40-9.

• Is hexabromobiphenyl a carcinogen?

  IARC places polybrominated biphenyls, the class hexabromobiphenyl belongs to, in Group 2A, probably carcinogenic to humans. The route to that conclusion matters: the same Working Group found the evidence in humans inadequate and reached Group 2A on the basis of mechanistic similarities to polychlorinated biphenyls. The US National Toxicology Program lists polybrominated biphenyls as reasonably anticipated to be human carcinogens, first listed in 1983. Both evaluations cover the class, not CAS 36355-01-8 on its own.

• Does hexabromobiphenyl come out of a mattress?

  No. It was never a mattress chemical, US production ended in November 1974, and manufacture, sale and use are now prohibited under the Stockholm Convention, the EU and UK POPs regulations and Canada's SOR/2025-270. It is a heavy, low-volatility solid that binds to particles rather than off-gassing, so the only realistic indoor route is settled dust. A 2021 survey of urban indoor dust in Hanoi still listed the PBB-153 congener as an analyte and found it at very low levels next to the retardants that replaced it. A mattress advertised as PBB-free is describing every mattress on the market.

• Why is it still in people if it was banned?

  Because it leaves the body slowly. CDC researchers reported a biological half-life for BB153 estimated at 11 years, and detected it in 77% of NHANES serum pools across 2005/06 through 2013/14. Canadian nursing mothers sampled in 2008 to 2009 carried it in both serum and breast milk, at median lipid-adjusted concentrations of 0.48 ng/g in serum and 0.31 ng/g in milk. US production ended fifty years ago and the measurement has not.

Related compounds

• PCBs — the chlorinated cousins whose mechanism IARC read across to reach Group 2A for polybrominated biphenyls
• PBDEs — the brominated class that replaced it, and the products in which trace PBB was later found as an impurity
• BDE-99 — a congener of the PBDE class that took over the market hexabromobiphenyl left
• DBDPE — the replacement that made up 98.6% of the novel brominated retardants in the Hanoi dust survey
• HBCD — another Stockholm-listed brominated retardant, with a live bedroom route this one lacks
• View the Flame Retardants family → — the full fire-safety chemistry picture

Embr is a sleep environment company researching and addressing the chemistry of the bedroom. Research and product development in progress. This page is informational and is not medical advice.

Last reviewed 2026-07-25. If you find a factual error, contact us.