Scientists have found moderately high levels of flame retardant chemicals in the body fat of 16 devils affected by the facial tumour disease that's wiping out the population.

Senior scientist with the Save the Tasmanian Devil program, Hamish McCallum told ABC Local Radio the data needs to be examined by a toxicologist.

"I know nothing about what these things are," he said.

"But I just thought okay I do have some statistical expertise I'll just see whether there's any evidence that those levels are higher in the diseased as compared with the undiseased devils and the answer is that there was no evidence statistically that they were."

In parts of Tasmania up to 90 per cent of the devil population has been wiped out by a contagious cancer-like facial tumour disease.

Senior wildlife biologist Nick Mooney warns the discovery poses serious concerns about how deeply the toxins have penetrated the state.

Dr Mooney has told ABC Local Radio that predators such as the devils are good indicators as to where the flame retardant chemicals are ending up.

"I'm sure there's a huge interest from the medical point of view in pursuing this," he said.

"There may be problems amongst people there that we haven't picked up yet, and this might be the first hint."

He says there is no concrete link between the toxins and the devil disease, but the findings must be tested further.

"Perhaps there is a source of this disease that can be affected by perhaps removing a chemical from use, that would be fantastic result that we could work with," he said.

"But it doesn't make any difference to the research at the moment, except for adding on more work to do with the toxicology."

Dr Mariann Lloyd-Smith from the International Persistent Organic Pollutants Elimination Network says there now needs to be an urgent study into the levels of the chemicals in the Tasmanian human population.

"As you go up the food chain the chemicals bio-concentrate so at each level they get higher, and as the animal ages they also get higher," she said.

"But I think it's also important to remember that humans are at the top of that food chain, so that could be a real concern as well."- Source: By Australian Broadcasting Corporation