There's no disputing that flame retardants have saved lives and property. But recent studies have found that the chemicals are somehow finding their way into our food.

CTV and The Globe and Mail decided to find out just how bad the problem is and what it means for our health.

The flame retardants are called PBDEs, or polybrominated diphenyl ethers, a class of about 25 industrial chemicals that are sprayed on textiles, plastics and electronics to prevent or slow the rate at which they will ignite.

But these chemicals are quickly contaminating our bodies, showing up in Canadian breast milk and U.S blood samples.

Dr. Arnold Schecter, a University of Texas Health Science Center environmental sciences professor, conducted a study on the problem, published in Environmental Health Perspectives.

Schecter tested breast milk samples from 47 Dallas and Austin women. He found an alarmingly high amount of the chemical.

What it means for the health of nursing children and their mothers is still unknown, he says.

"These are undesirable persistent toxic chemicals. And even though we don't know the exact meaning of these levels of the health of children or adults, it is certainly undesirable to have these toxic chemicals in our food supply."

So how prevalent is the problem? That's the investigation CTV and The Globe and Mail undertook some months ago. We sent 12 common foods for testing at Axys Analytical Services Ltd. in Sydney, B.C., an independent laboratory. What we found was disturbing.

We found flame retardants in virtually all of the samples -- in cheese, ground beef, pork chops, butter, ground turkey. The highest levels were in farmed salmon and trout.

Schecter says the problem seems to be a recent one.

"When we tested blood from over 30 years ago, we could find no PBDEs. Blood collected now has some of the highest levels ever found."

Based on studies conducted by Health Canada, human milk collected from Canadian mothers was found to contain the second highest levels of PDBEs in the world, after the U.S.

Health Canada has been tracking PBDE levels for eight years, and claims to be the only regulatory authority in the world to collect such a comprehensive set of data on PDBE levels in food. 

The agency acknowledges that indicators of overall exposure to PDBEs have been rising, based on human milk and human blood levels.

But it also stresses that these same high levels have not been detected in food.

According to the agency, levels of PBDEs found in Canada and intakes of PBDEs through food is consistent with levels and intakes found elsewhere around the world.

It also says the levels of PBDEs detected do not pose a risk to human health.

"The levels are very low they vary in parts per trillion and very low parts per billion levels," says Dr. Samuel Ben Rejeb, Associate Director of Health Canada's Bureau of Chemical Safety. "In general, the levels that were found do not pose a health risk for Canadians.

Environmentalists disagree.

"Compared to Europe our levels are 10 to 100 times higher and they are doubling every two to five years. So we are facing a chemical crisis," says consumer advocate Beverly Thorpe of Clean Production Action.

Studies have shown flame retardants are chemically similar to cancer causing PCB's, which were banned in the 1970s. PBDEs in animals appear to disrupt brain development, behaviour and hormones. But manufacturers say that's just in animals.

"It's never been demonstrated to have any human or environmental effects. We're so far below any level of potential risk to humans," says Peter O'Toole of the Bromine Science and Environmental Forum, a group that represents manufacturers of flame retardants.

Some European countries identified flame retardants as a health risk nearly a decade ago and moved to get them out of products. But so far, Canada has been reticent to bring in any bans.

Scientists think flame retardants are ending up in our food through industrial sewage that becomes fertilizer for crops and animal feed.

CTV's Avis Favaro will have more on the risks of flame retardant chemicals, looking at other, more insidious ways the chemicals are entering our bodies.