Get cancer-causing chemicals out of cars

We need fire-safe vehicles without exposure to harmful flame retardants.

 Black Plastic Items Can Have Cancer-Causing BFRs, New Study Warns

Paint this news black. The black plastic items that you find like everywhere may contain toxic brominated flame retardants, otherwise known as BFRs. And these BFRs are not your BFFs as they’ve been linked to cancer, nervous system problems, endocrine disruption and reproductive and development issues. When researchers screened 203 black plastic consumer products for bromine, they found toxic flame retardant chemicals in 85% of these products, as described in study published on October 1 in the scientific journal Chemosphere.

 Flame Retardants Spreading Like Wildfire

Chemicals that inhibit fires are ubiquitous in consumer products ranging from auto interiors to office equipment. Now, a study has shown that these compounds, suspected of disrupting the body's hormonal system, are accumulating rapidly in animals in the Arctic, thousands of kilometers from where they were used.

 Your car may be slowly killing you—but not for the reason you think

A new study found that the interior of most cars contains flame-retardant chemicals that have been linked to a number of health issues.

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.

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

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

A New Study Found Cancer-Causing Flame Retardants on Black Plastic Kitchen Utensils and Food Containers

You may want to rethink reusing those takeout containers.

Common fire retardants killing firefighters...

Flame retardants routinely added to common household products are killing firefighters, putting children and pregnant women at risk and contaminating the environment while not significantly improving safety...

Flame retardant chemicals can cause serious health risks – and they only slow fire by a few seconds

House fires are many people’s worst nightmare. But chemicals created decades ago to protect people’s homes from out of control flames opened our front doors to a new menace: toxic chemicals. Ones that we are consistently exposed to in our homes, offices and vehicles. Plastics are everywhere and are highly flammable materials. To combat this, in around the mid to late 20th century, a class of chemicals known as flame retardants (FRs) were developed to reduce the fire risks of plastic materials. These were widely used in plastic items with electrical componants including domestic appliances like cookers and kettles, electronics like TVs and computers, and especially electric heaters.

Flame Retardants In Car Seat Foam May Expose Americans To Carcinogens, Study Suggests

Flame retardants in car seat foam may increase exposure to potentially cancer-causing chemicals—especially during the summer—according to a new study, and the researchers urge government officials to amend regulations to prohibit the use of flame retardants in cars to reduce health risks, as the safety and effectiveness of flame retardants faces growing scrutiny.

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.”

My Ikea Couch Reeks of Chemicals

Why are flame retardants required in furniture, anyway?

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.

Think of Fire Before It Begins – The Fire Retardants Story

In the case of a fire, flame retardants (FR’s) react with either oxygen (a mechanism known as “gas phase”) or with the burning material – the fuel (called “solid phase mechanism”), and its surrounding oxygen and create an effective defensive ‘wall’ that prevents the fire from spreading. Without oxygen or fuel, a fire will stop.

Toxic fireproof chemicals absorbed by touch

Flame retardants apparently save lives, but in addition to foiling potential fires, many of these chemicals also may be slowly sickening the people they were meant to protect.

Toxic flame retardants could face sweeping EU ban

A new report from the European Chemicals Agency suggests potentially carcinogenic aromatic brominated flame retardants, ABFRs, could be next in line for wide-ranging restrictions after the ‘forever chemicals’ known as PFAS also raised health concerns.