By Douglas Fischer
Inside Bay Area (California)
Copyright 2007 MediaNews Group, Inc. and ANG Newspapers
All Rights Reserved
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A measure banning a broad class of flame retardants from furniture and bedding cleared the Assembly late Wednesday night, while a controversial effort to ban one of the most widely used chemical flame retardants from all consumer products fell short Thursday.
Given California's size, either bill would have transformed how everyday products such as TVs and mattresses are made, potentially shifting the industry away from chemical flame retardants and toward design changes such as barriers that accomplish the same goals without the toxic chemistry.
The successful bill, AB706 by Assemblyman Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, prohibits the use of either chlorinated or brominated fire retardants in domestic furniture or bedding such as mattresses, pillows and comforters.
It also revises strict California fire safety standards that now require foam inside cushions and mattresses be flame retardant. Instead, under AB706, manufacturers would be allowed to leave the foam untreated if a flame-resistant barrier surrounds it.
Critics of current policy — including some firefighters — say only the fabric around foam need be flame retardant. They contend the state's policy results in foam that is unnecessarily infused with toxic chemicals, leaving consumers exposed to health risks as the foam degrades and chemicals leach out.
Chemicals made with bromine or chlorine have repeatedly proven problematic. Polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, used in industrial transformers were banned in the 1970s after a series of industrial spills highlighted the compound's potent neurotoxicity. Two types of flame retardants, known as polybrominated diphenyl ethers — or PBDEs — and common in foam, were withdrawn from the global market earlier this decade after scientists linked PBDEs to developmental effects and a tendency to linger in humans and wildlife.
AB706 would remove from manufacturers' arsenal two of the most commonly used flame retardants: Tris, banned from children's pajamas in the 1970s amid toxicity concerns; and Firemaster 550, a brand marketed as a replacement for "Penta," a type of PBDE banned in California earlier in the decade.
"The state of California should not be in the business of playing 'Whack-a-Mole' with toxic chemicals," said Russell Long, vice president of Friends of the Earth, one of the bill's sponsors.
"Ideally, in the next few years we'll develop a comprehensive chemical framework. But until then, we need to end the use of toxic fire retardants in products."
The other bill, AB513 by Assemblywoman Sally Lieber, D-San Jose, faced tougher sledding. It sought to ban the remaining PBDE on the market, known as "Deca" and used chiefly in plastics and commercial textiles.
Deca is a brominated flame retardant cherished by manufacturers for its effectiveness at snuffing fires and its ability to mix easily with plastic.
Many researchers suspect it poses similar health risks to chemicals already banned or subject to ban under Leno's bill. But those findings are sharply disputed by industry.
Deca is not used in domestic furniture or bedding.
Supporters of the Lieber bill took limited solace Thursday by the passage earlier in the week of AB48 by Assemblywoman Lori Soldana, D-San Diego. The measure, which advanced to the Senate, prohibits the sale of electronic equipment containing chemicals that have been deemed hazardous and that are already restricted in Europe.
Deca may be one such chemical, according to Lieber's office.
