Comment on: Berhan. Thirty Years of Prospective Nationwide Incidence of Childhood Type 1 Diabetes: The Accelerating Increase by Time Tends to Level Off in Sweden. Diabetes 2011;60:577–581
- Sarah G. Howard
- Diabetes-Obesity Spectrum Working Group, Collaborative on Health and the Environment, East Greenbush, New York
- Corresponding author: Sarah G. Howard, sarhow{at}gmail.com.
Berhan et al. (1) report that the increasing incidence of type 1 diabetes in children has begun to level off in Sweden, beginning with children born around the year 2000. One possible explanation for these encouraging data is Sweden's voluntary phase out of brominated flame retardants (BFRs), including polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), during the 1990s. The concentrations of various BFRs peaked in Swedish mothers’ breast milk around 1995–2001 and have since …