Times reporter Marla Cone has returned from a writing fellowship and is doing the kind of cutting-edge trend stories environmental reporting needs. Concern about brominated fire-retardants is hardly a new story on the environmental beat (look up the news on PBBs in Michigan in 1973). Cone collects the latest and best research on polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) used in many home and office plastic and foam products, such as furniture, building materials, and electronic equipment. The research shows PBDEs "are rapidly building up in the bodies of people and wildlife around the world, approaching levels in American women and their babies that could harm developing brains ..." PBDEs are as potent and persistent as PCBs and DDT, she reports, adding that "Scientists who specialize in toxic contaminants say they haven't seen a chemical buildup in human bodies and the environment as quickly as that of PBDEs in almost half a century." Then she moves on to the hard questions: Why aren't EPA and other government agencies regulating them? And do their benefits in saving lives outweigh their toxic risks? (See: http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/la-me-chemicals20apr20,1,2395217.story)