Flame & Fire Retardants

It’s killing us’ why firefighters are battling to ban flame retardants

“Firefighters are like the canary in the mine,” said Fleming. “If there is a problem with these chemicals, we’re going to get it,” said Fleming. “We’re exposed to the highest level.”

New flame retardants are as toxic as the ones they intended to replace

They can lead to serious health harms in kids and adults.

The Consequences of Spraying Fire Retardants on Wildfires

The really worrisome aspect is that we don’t truly know. These fire retardants haven’t been fully studied over long periods of time at the increased amounts we’re currently using. We do know that sprayed fire retardants feed harmful algal blooms along waterways and are toxic to fish.

What do firefighting chemicals do to a forest?

There are a fair number of risk assessments out there examining the impact of fire retardants on ecosystems — however, not a lot of them offer clear answers.

After Wildfires, What Happens to Crops Soaked in Fire Retardant?

Hulbert said he spent 39 years ordering retardant drops without knowing much about the potential long-term implications. “This is 50-year-old technology,” he said. “I’m not sure it’s a good thing.”

Are Flame Retardants Safe? Growing Evidence Says ‘No’

New studies have underscored the potentially harmful health effects of the most widely used flame retardants, found in everything from baby blankets to carpets. Health experts are now calling for more aggressive action to limit these chemicals, including cutting back on highly flammable, petroleum-based materials used in many consumer products.

Are we worried about flame retardants?

Both brominated and organophosphate flame retardants are part of a group of chemicals called persistent organic pollutants (POPs). (These also include other chemicals of current concern known as PFAS.) These chemicals have been called “forever chemicals” because they are persistent and bioaccumulate. This means they stay in the environment and our bodies for a very long time.

Flame retardants and health

Flame retardant chemicals aren’t essential to fire safety, yet they have been widely applied to many products we regularly use in our homes and offices. The chemicals migrate out of these products into the air and dust in indoor environments where we are exposed to them continuously. They persist in the environment, and our bodies, for long periods of time. They have been associated with adverse effects on neurodevelopment and interference with our hormone and reproductive systems.

Flame Retardants Are Everywhere

Flame retardants have been found in Antarctic penguins and Arctic orcas; in North American kestrels and barn owls; in bird eggs in Spain, fish in Canada and, indirectly, in bees — honey from Brazil, Morocco, Spain and Portugal has been found tainted with flame retardants. These chemicals also have been discovered in homes and offices, subways and trains, cars and airplanes.

High levels of toxic flame retardant chemicals found in dust inside college classrooms

Scientists have long raised concerns about the use of flame retardants in products because the chemicals are linked with a range of health problems including thyroid disease, infertility, decreased IQ, and cancers. What's more, the chemicals don't stay put. Studies show flame retardants migrate out of furniture, accumulate in dust, and end up in people's bodies.

How Carcinogens Travel from Your Comfy-Ass Couch to Your Bloodstream

Couch, I love you and I hate you.

The US government is finally acknowledging the flame retardants in your furniture and baby products are not just ineffective, but also dangerous

The US agency in charge of protecting consumer safety just took the first step towards banning a class of flame retardants that were, up until very recently, nearly ubiquitous. So ubiquitous—mostly in children’s clothes, baby toys, and upholstered furniture—that the vast majority of the US population has measurable quantities of it in their blood.

A Flame Retardant That Came With Its Own Threat to Health

If you closely examine your living room couch, your favorite easy chair or your child’s car seat, the odds are strong that you will find upholstery that is filled with polyurethane foam treated with a chemical flame retardant. Some may find that comforting: Isn’t it desirable to hold an accidental fire at bay, one caused by, say, a burning cigarette or faulty electrical wiring? But studies show that many flame-resistant chemicals loom as potential health menaces, associated with cancers, memory loss, lower I.Q.s and impaired motor skills in children, to name a few woes. Isn’t it just as desirable, some would also say, to keep such substances out of people’s lives?

Collaborative on Health and the Environment

Though many flame retardants are no longer produced, they do not easily break down, remaining in the environment for years and bioaccumulating in people and animals over time.2 Humans are exposed to flame retardant chemicals daily. Studies have shown that some may be hazardous to people and animals.3

EWG

In 2017, the Consumer Products Safety Commission initiated a ban on the most toxic additives in foam products and electronics, and warned the public, particularly parents, to avoid buying new foam or electronic products that contain bromine- or chlorine-based flame retardants.

Safer States

Flame Retardants are a class of chemicals added to furniture, electronics, and building materials intended to help prevent fires. Despite the claims of the chemical industry, many of them are unnecessary, don’t work well, and are poisonous.

Toxic-Free Future

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.

FlameRetardantFacts.com

Flame retardants are an important tool to help reduce fires, fire deaths, and property damage. They have been proven to be effective in preventing fires from starting and slowing their spread once they start.

American Chemistry Council

Using the best science and research available, the American Chemistry Council’s North American Flame Retardant Alliance (NAFRA) works to support the use of flame retardants in the defense against deadly fires and in the preservation of life and property.

Phos_chek

PHOS-CHEK® and FIRE-TROL® brand long-term fire retardants, Class A foams, and water-enhancing gels are the world’s leading chemical solutions for managing wildland, industrial and municipal fires.