Recent studies have found that flame retardant chemicals are making their way into our food supply and showing up in breast milk. But there may be an even more insidious way the chemicals are entering our bodies.

Two new studies, one from the U.S. and another soon-to-be-published Canadian investigation have confirmed flame retardants are found throughout our homes in dust.

The chemicals in question are polybrominated diphenyl ethers. They are flame retardants that are spread on commercial goods to prevent or slow the rate at which they will ignite. They're in your sofa, your TV, your computer, and they're in your household dust. There's virtually no escaping them.

"Consumers don't have a lot of information about the fact they are literally bathed in brominated flame retardants in their homes and outside," says Barbara Thorpe of the Clean Production Action.

Researchers say the chemicals are leaching out of the products that they are sprayed on as they degrade, turning into dust that sticks to surfaces. That dust is then inhaled and accumulates in our bodies.

Professor Miriam Diamond, an environmental scientist at the University of Toronto, found that indoor air contains 10 to 20 times the levels of PBDEs compared to outdoor air.

Her study, due out in the coming months, estimates exposures to these PBDEs. She found that two-thirds of adults' body burden appears to be coming from dust.

In the case of toddlers, who are low to the ground and in closer contact with the carpets/sofas and ground dust, 90 per cent of their body levels are coming from house dust, Diamond estimates.

"We're very concerned about exposure at these young and vulnerable life stages," says Diamond.

A U.S. study published last month showed flame retardants in the house dust of every single home tested.

Scientists are concerned because animal studies show that the chemicals build up in our bodies and affect brain development and reproductive hormones.

Industry representatives say the results of the animal studies don't apply to humans.

"None of these flame retardants has ever shown a tangible effect to human health or the environment," says Peter O'Toole of the Bromine Science and Environmental Forum, a group that represents manufacturers of flame retardants. "There's a bit of a leap of faith on the part of some parties to look for extrapolation to human health."

But about five per cent of humans tested are showing levels scientists consider worrisome, says Dr. Linda Bernbaum of the U.S Environmental Protection Agency.

"There are people within our general population. We don't know why but they have levels much higher than other people. And these levels are within range where effects have been seen in some of our animal experiments."

Dr. Diamond says it's time to take action to rid ourselves of these chemicals.

"We have to work as a society to get them out of the system," she says.

But Canada is still deciding on what to do with these products. Officials have discussed a ban on two of the three more popular formulations. North American makers have agreed to voluntarily phase them out. Officials hope this will bring down levels of flame retardants turning up in Canadian bodies.

But with at least a year's worth of chemicals stockpiled, these flame retardants in our products won't disappear for some time.

Scientists in Europe are now raising the alarm about a third formulation they say appears to degrade into the two forms now banned in Europe because of how they migrate and build up in humans. That flame retardant, called Deca-BDE, is still widely used in products sold in North America.

Tomorrow: It's a problem with a solution. How Europe is leading the way in getting flame retardants out of the environment. And what consumers can do to reduce their exposure to flame retardants.