The Truth About Flame Retardants

“These guys believe that they’re doing good work preventing fires, which could kill thousands of people if they didn’t manufacture these compounds and that we are just alarmist environmentalists who can detect these compounds at levels that don’t mean anything.

I ask why don’t they find a product that doesn’t get out into the environment and accumulate in people and animals, such as polar bears?”

Ronald A Hites, Distinguished Professor
School of Public and Environmental Affairs, Indiana University

Manufacturers of flame retardant chemicals are feeling the heat over the safety of their products, as scientists and consumers seriously question whether saving one person from death in a fire is worth putting every consumer at risk of chemical poisoning.

Flame retardant chemicals are hard to escape. They are commonly added to electronic products, electrical wire casings, carpet, foam furniture, children’s clothes and toys, and are designed to slow the rate of combustion once a product is alight.

Of the 4,000 deaths due to fire 280, or 7% could have been saved by the use of flame retardants.

When compared to the entire population of the United States, that is less than 0.0001% - yet every single person in the country is exposed to these chemicals.

An increasing body of research is showing that the chemicals used to protect us from fire could be putting a generation at risk of cancer, thyroid disruption, immune system deficiency and problems with the development of the reproductive systems and impaired learning and development in children.

They are also “bio-accumulative”, which means the chemicals are unable to be broken down by humans or animals, and the level of toxicity in the body accumulates.

Instead of being chemically bound to the products to create a stable compound, the flame retardant is simply mixed into the polymers coating the surface of the product, which enables the chemicals to easily leach into the surrounding environment – and this means your home is likely to have a concentration of chemicals several times higher than outside in the open air.

So here is the question - is saving 280 lives a year worth the potential health risks for the ENTIRE population?

A couple of years ago I bought a new bed. When the plastic bag was ripped from the mattress, the smell nearly knocked me over. I did not know at the time WHAT this smell was about, but I could tell that it was from chemicals of some kind. Obviously, now I understand that it was flame retardants – lots of them.

I phoned the department store where I bought the bed and asked them to replace it. Obviously something was wrong with this particular bed, I thought. So I went back to the store, picked out another bed (and please know that this is a good quality bed from a manufacturer everyone knows by name, and one of their most expensive beds).

The delivery people came and picked up the first bed and left the new one. The plastic came off and there was the smell again, albeit not as strong on this bed. I was incredulous that they were putting CHEMICALS in beds!

I did not sleep on that bed for two weeks. The mattress stood up against the wall of the bedroom and the window was open through the day allowing the off-gassing to happen.

But do you know what I have learned since then? I have learned that the off-gassing goes on and on and on over time. Yes, a good deal of it can be accelerated by airing the product like I did, but the process continues and continues.

So - am I happy that I have to be exposed to these dangerous chemicals in MY bed? No, I am not.

The best option to avoid the build-up of flame retardant chemicals is to refuse to bring treated products into your home in the first place.

It is not always possible to find furniture and other products that are WITHOUT flame retardants, but if you can, look for organic whenever possible. Some will contain natural flame retardants, like wool.

How relieved and excited we are to have found organic baby, children’s and adult mattresses and bedding. We travelled to California recently to visit the manufacturer to see and learn about their products first hand.

Bad enough that this is happening to the adult population. But when it came to my grandchild's impending birth, I could not stand to think that her little body would be absorbing these horrible chemicals. So I bought her an organic crib mattress as well as bedding and sleepers. It feels so great to know that at least THIS child does not have a chemical environment in which to sleep, and I am so grateful to have found this company, whose products we are now priveleged to represent.

The wool batting in this mattress is a natural flame retardant, and passes all safety regulations.

In an interview with a correspondent, Gary Taubes in November 2007, Professor Ronal Hites of Indiana University said that perhaps PBDEs do help to prevent fires. As they talked, he said that he and Gary were likely sitting on polyurethane foam right then.

He went on to say the following:

The entire interview can be found in the links at the bottom of this page ("Interview With Ronald Hites").

OK. So some people SMOKE IN BED and they need to be protected from the fire they might cause. Well - I have a really good and unique idea. Don’t SMOKE IN BED. Without the introduction of heat, your mattress will likely not burn, since mattresses do not spontaneously burst into flame.

So in order to protect those who choose to smoke in bed, the other 99.9999% of the population is also exposed to these chemicals while they sleep. Is there something wrong with this picture?

How about another idea. What if manufacturers made some products with flame retardants, and some of them without flame retardants. That way, people can CHOOSE whether they will be exposed to these harmful chemicals or not. Well, that would probably be a manufacturers nightmare and maybe it would cost them more money. After all, isn't what ALL of this is about anyway? The financial bottom line for the corporations?

Thirty years ago, the great environmental threat was a group of flame retardant chemicals called polychlorinated byphenals (PCB). They were used in all sorts of consumer products, which promised to be less combustible and therefore safer, but scientists were concerned they might cause cancer.

Manufacturers of PCBs had dumped excess stock into the Hudson River in New York State, and the Great Lakes region – their actions proved so toxic that residents are advised against eating fish from these waterways to this day, despite the fact PCBs have been out of circulation for decades

When the new class of fire retardants came along in 1978 to replace the highly toxic PCB, there was general relief in the community that a safer product had been

developed as an additive to the goods we use in our everyday lives.

These new brominated flame retardants include the most commonly used class, Polybrominated Diphenyl Ether (PBDE).

But after 30 years of use, scientists are still determining how dangerous these PBDEs really are. They are similar in chemical structure to the previously banned PCBs, and researchers fear they are not the safe alternative once trumpeted.

Amount of Boric Acid in Non Wool
Covered Mattresses by Size

Who Is Most At Risk?

If you are overweight or obese, breastfeeding or have young children playing on the floor in your home, you should be particularly concerned about PBDEs.

In 1999, a group of Swedish scientists presented a report to an international chemical conference in Stockholm which showed PBDEs were present in stored volumes

of womens’ breast milk, and more recently the levels found, had increased over time as more products containing these flame retardant chemicals were released to the market.

Subsequent studies have shown that the appearance of PBDEs in everything from household dust to human blood samples is 10-20 times higher in the US where there are few product restrictions, compared to European nations which have ruled out the use of many classes of fire retardants.

The chemicals are particularly well transported in fatty tissue, providing a new health concern for the growing proportion of overweight and obese people. Animal studies have shown that a higher exposure of PBDEs in the neo-natal period can lead to impaired behaviour, learning and memory.

Thyroid disease has been reported in cats, which has been linked to dust in the home and the amount of time household pets spend in dusty areas on the flame-retardant treated carpet. And in the average family home, children are there playing right there on the carpet next to the domestic pets, which raises concerns on the levels of toxic exposure for children.

Fire Retardants in Infants’ Mattresses

A growing number of scientists are linking Sudden Infant Death Syndrome to babies being poisoned by their crib mattress.

What they are saying is that the baby’s sweating and spit up etc creates a fungus, Scopulariopsis brevicaulis within the mattress. The chemicals in the flame retardants and preservatives used in crib mattress react with the fungus, and this results in the production of three nerve gasses: phosphine, arsine and stibine, all of which can be very deadly, especially to infants.

Learn More by reading our Toxins in Children’s Products page. Also, follow the links to the experts (below), including the entire explanation of SIDS and crib mattresses.

How can I Reduce My Use?

Internationally, there are moves to reduce the use of PBDEs in consumer products. Some computer and electronics manufacturers already produce some flame retardant chemical-free products, with many setting deadlines for all their product ranges to be PDBE-free in the next five years.

According to a Greenpeace study, Sony Ericsson is leading the charge, with plans to have their entire product range brominated flame retardant free by January 2008. Samsung, Sony, Dell, Lenovo, Toshiba and LG have all committed to a timeframe to phase out the use of this chemical in their consumer products. However, many others have not committed to a timeframe for ceasing the use of these chemicals.

flame retardants in their furniture products, but many companies still use treated foam in mattress and lounge construction.

Consumers can reduce their consumption of fish, particularly from sources where it is known there is industrial activity involving PBDEs. However, researchers suggest that the levels of chemicals in human breast milk are not generally high enough to issue a general warning for breast-feeding mothers – the benefits of human breast milk are far greater than the potential problems associated with these chemicals.

Naturally fire-resistant textiles such as wool are a good alternative for carpet, instead of synthetic blends which require that they are treated with flame retardants.

Organic crib mattresses as well as organic adult mattresses are available. See our link for crib mattresses. We also supply adult mattresses on request. Go to our contact page to request more information.

Using an effective vacuum cleaner to remove household dust could also contribute to lower levels of PBDEs in the home.

And above all – be an active consumer and ask your retailer whether their products are flame retardant-free. Greater public demand for chemical-free products will provoke manufacturers to respond more prudently to safety concerns.

For the best in Indoor air quality, exchange the air in your home frequently by opening your windows, and by using a good air purification system.

Disclaimer: On this page you have found information about flame/fire retardants, and you have heard OUR opinions about them. We encourage you to base any decisions as to whether you buy products with or without flame retandants present, on YOUR research, not on OUR opinions.