Toxic Flame-Fighter Still in Use

  • While some flame retardants are now banned, one - Deca - is still commonly used (Photo courtesy of FEMA)

Two forms of a toxic flame retardant
are being phased out by companies or banned
by state laws. But, Lester Graham reports,
a third form is still being used:

Transcript

Two forms of a toxic flame retardant
are being phased out by companies or banned
by state laws. But, Lester Graham reports,
a third form is still being used:

The third flame retardant, called Deca-BDE, is still being used in drapes, carpets,
furniture upholstery and the plastic cases of electronics, like your computer.

PBDE’s are being found in fish and wildlife, and even in mothers’ breast milk.
Studies have found they cause developmental problems and liver cancer in
animals. Environmentalists say just like the other two PBDEs, Deca-BDEs should
be banned.

Mike Shriberg is with the Ecology Center.

“There is no reason to have toxic chemicals like this when we’re fighting fires. The
Fire Chiefs Association, the firefighters, they support banning this chemical because
they know there are safer alternatives that keep us just as safe from fires.”

But unlike the other PBDEs, most states have not passed laws to ban deca-BDEs.

For The Environment Report, this is Lester Graham.

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New Flame Retardants Show Up in Wildlife

A study of gull eggs shows that more chemicals used as flame retardants are
showing up in the environment. Chuck Quirmbach reports:

Transcript

A study of gull eggs shows that more chemicals used as flame retardants are
showing up in the environment. Chuck Quirmbach reports:


Flame retardants on clothes and other products have reduced deaths and
injuries caused by fires. But the compound traditionally found in retardants,
polybrominated diphenyl ethers, or PBDE, has found its way into many water
bodies and even into women’s breast milk.


A few years ago, after concerns about the compound being linked to health
problems in wildlife, makers of PBDEs began to phase out some types of it. A
recent update of a study of herring gull eggs around the Great Lakes has found
that levels of the phased out chemicals have been dropping, but research
scientist Robert Letcher of Environment Canada says there’s also bad news:


“Flame retardants that are replacing them commercially are starting to show up in
the gulls as an indicator species. And for example, there’s the replacement flame
retardant callled deca-BDE. That’s what we’re seeing going up.”


Letcher says there could be long-term health concerns for both wildlife and
humans.


For the Environment Report, I’m Chuck Quirmbach.

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