Scientists Call for Caution on Widely Used Flame Retardants

“San Antonio Statement” raises concerns about toxicity and efficacy

Newswise — A statement signed by nearly 150 scientists from 22 countries raises concerns about occurrence, toxicity, and efficacy of a major class of flame retardant chemicals commonly found in upholstered furniture, foam carpet pads, textiles, televisions and other consumer electronics, airplanes, and automobiles. These chemicals also were used in mattresses produced before July 2007.

Both the statement and an accompanying editorial in the journal highlight burgeoning evidence that these brominated and chlorinated flame retardants (BFRs and CFRs, respectively) are accumulating in humans and the environment, and that some may harm unborn children, affect people’s hormones, and play a role in causing cancer. The statement and editorial were published October 28 ahead of print in the peer-reviewed journal Environmental Health Perspectives (EHP).

Named for the Texas city where scientists attended the 30th International Symposium on Halogenated Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) in September 2010, the San Antonio Statement says that “BFRs and CFRs can increase fire toxicity and their overall benefit in improving fire safety has not been proven.” It explains that the retardants “can increase the release of carbon monoxide, toxic gases, and soot, which are the cause of most fire deaths and injuries.”

Manufacturers should pay more attention to whether flame retardants add any benefit to the products to which they are added, admonishes the editorial, which is coauthored by statement signatory Åke Bergman, professor in Environmental Chemistry at Stockholm University, who has spent more than 20 years on BFR research, and Linda Birnbaum, director of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. One chief purpose of flame retardants is to give consumers a longer window of opportunity to escape an accidental fire. But the editorial questions whether potentially toxic retardants are required in goods such as nursing pillows and baby strollers, which typically are not used in settings (e.g., near stationary heat sources) or under circumstances (e.g., while asleep) where fires are likely or increased reaction time warranted.

Both the statement and editorial stress that flame retardant manufacturers have a history of “a continuing pattern of unfortunate substitution.” In 1973, a tragic mix-up led to widespread poisoning and ultimately a ban on a BFR known as polybrominated biphenyl (PBB). It was replaced by another group of BFRs, the polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), two formulations of which are now banned and linked to neurodevelopmental impairments in children and other problems. The BFRs and CFRs now replacing PBDEs include a chlorinated version of a BFR known as “Tris,” which was removed from use in children’s sleepwear in the 1970s.

“No one wants to decrease fire safety, but the [persistent, bioaccumulative, and toxic] properties of BFRs and CFRs should trigger the development of safer alternatives,” the editorial urges. “Just as we have known for years that significant exposure to lead occurred via house dust, why has it taken us so long to understand that BFRs and CFRs, which are used in consumer products, can also escape . . . into house, office, car, and airplane dust, and will also end up in people, as well as the environment and wildlife? Why do we not learn from the past?”

The San Antonio statement’s signatories are experts on the health effects and environmental fate of BFRs and CFRs among other environmental contaminants. The statement includes a plea for manufacturers to provide more information about toxicity testing and how various retardants are used and for governments to respond to the health and environmental threats posed by BFRs and CFRs.

The statement and the editorial will be available October 28 free of charge at http://www.ehponline.org/article/info:doi/10.1289/ehp.1003089 and http://www.ehponline.org/article/info:doi/10.1289/ehp.1003088, respectively.

EHP is published by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. EHP is an open-access journal, and all EHP content is available free online at http://www.ehponline.org/. Brogan & Partners Convergence Marketing handles marketing and public relations for the publication and is responsible for creation and distribution of this press release.