Why use flame retardants

The function of circuit boards is to transmit electrical current, so flame retardant proponents say fire protection is an obvious necessity. Flame retardants are also embedded in the plastic shells that encase circuitry and electronics, with potentially more alarming health impacts.

They are added to the plastics during a late stage of manufacturing without bonding to or reacting with the product material, making it easier for them to leach into the environment. In general, industry is responsible for regulating its own acceptable fire risk in electronics. In the U. Thanks to the Consumer Product Safety Act, the federal Consumer Product Safety Commission says it has the ability to enforce action on risky products if it hears about it.

It is difficult for outside groups to gain insight into risk because companies typically do not share information on which flame retardants they use.

Even companies that say they are using one flame retardant may, even unbeknownst to them, be using small quantities of others if international subcontractors adulterate the products, he says.

So are consumers being exposed to a smattering of flame retardants every time they whip out their phones or plop down in front of the television? The jury is still out.

To date there is very little data on chemical leaching from these products. Some companies have preemptively turned to alternatives. Apple says it phased out all of its brominated flame retardants BFRs in some of which are linked with maladies including cancer and adverse effects on fetal and child development ; so newer iPads, iPods and iPhones should be free of such chemicals—but not all companies have followed suit.

Apple says it instead uses a mix of more inherently fire resistant materials or safer flame-retarding alternative chemicals. Still, five other companies did not respond to requests for information from Scientific American by press time.

There is no easy way for consumers to find out which products are free of flame retardant or to track the amount of retardants poured into or coating their electronics. EPA, for one, does not monitor the amount of flame retardants used in electronics. From our TVs to our automobiles, furniture and building materials, dangerous cancer-causing and brain-harming toxic flame retardants are used in the name of fire safety when safer alternatives are available.

How did these harmful chemicals become a common additive to household products? A decades-long collaboration between the chemical and tobacco industries put these chemicals in a multitude of everyday products without regard for public health.

The kicker? Now, we are left with a legacy of ineffective toxic chemicals in our bodies, environment, and homes. TCPP tris 1-chloropropyl phosphate is a flame retardant commonly used in polyurethane foam in consumer products and in home insulation, and in electronics.

It is used as an additive to polyurethane foam and is not chemically bound, and it escapes from products into the indoor environment. Learn more. Polyurethane foam in furniture and baby care products is also highly flammable, despite the added flame retardants certain flammability standards require.

We have to stop using such fuel-rich, petroleum-based materials in buildings when safer, inherently flame-retardant substitutes are available for these same uses. There are viable non-toxic alternatives to using halogenated flame retardants, Warner explained, but thus far, not one that will work as a drop-in substitute for all uses of deca. Joseph Hei, president and founder of OrbitBaby, said his company has commissioned the milling of its own patented, organic cotton-wool blend fabrics that are fire-resistant.

The safety of the products is certified to the Oeko-Tex standard, administered by the Zurich-based Oeko-Tex Institute, which conducts tests to ensure the safety of textiles. BabyBjorn does in-house testing of all fabrics to make sure they are free of hazardous flame retardants, Zandren said. Asked about the relatively high price of OrbitBaby products and what that means for lower-income consumers, Hei said that he hoped awareness would lead to more demand for the kinds of materials his company is using and thus lead to lower prices.

Several larger companies, among them Graco and Walmart, make car seats also rated as low in flame retardants by the Michigan-based non-profit, HealthyStuff. Graco also declined comment on that issue. Search Search. Compounds thought to be off the market due to health concerns continue to be used in the U.