How To Reduce Fire Retardant Chemicals In Your Home

All California furniture has been required to meet an open flame flammability standard for foam since the 1980s. This standard is also followed by some national manufacturers outside California. It is primarily achieved by adding potentially toxic fire retardant chemicals (BFRs and CFRs) to the polyurethane foam inside furniture. These chemicals migrate from the furniture and are found in dust, dryer lint, pets, and people. Since there is no labeling requirement, there is no way to learn what chemicals are inside your furniture. But there are things you can do!

Here are some suggestions to minimize exposure to potentially toxic fire retardants in your home:

1) Vacuum often and use a HEPA filter to keep the dust level down. The chemicals appear to migrate out of the furniture into household dust.

2) When you buy upholstered furniture containing polyurethane foam, look for models where the foam is thickly covered or wrapped inside the cushion so dust is less likely to escape into your home.

3) Buy your upholstered furniture from small companies outside CA where there are no flammability requirements.
a. All foam sold in California that might be used for furniture is required by law to be treated with fire retardant chemicals. Foam that isn’t treated with chemicals should be available for purchase in 49 other states.
b. European furniture or a local brand from a state far from CA is unlikely to contain fire retardant chemicals. A recent check of 20 pieces of upholstered furniture at Ikea showed 18 to contain no brominated fire retardants and two pieces contained relatively low levels.

4) Buy wooden furniture or furniture filled with polyester, down, wool, or cotton, since these materials are unlikely to contain added fire retardant chemicals. Note that the backs of most new furniture are stuffed with polyester rather than foam.

5) Minimize the use of carpeting and draperies in your home as these can be treated with fire retardant chemicals.

6) Request a note from your doctor that you might be able to use to buy fire-retardant-free foam or furniture.

7) Write or call the manufacturer of your furniture item to inquire whether fire retardants were used and whether or not they are brominated or chlorinated. Please share any answers with us.

Green Sage Furniture, Montauk Furniture, Cisco Brothers Furniture (Basal Living Collection line), Verellen Home Collection, Furnature and other manufactures claim to make furniture without added FRs that meet TB 117 by using design, wool liners, high density foam, and other techniques. We have not been able to verify this information.

Buy furniture constructed prior to 1980, which should not contain FR chemicals.

9) Mattresses use a barrier technology rather than adding fire retardant chemicals to foam and should pose a lesser health hazard.

Here are some ways to support responsible legislation in California to change the current open flame flammability standards:

1) Support California AB706, Mark Leno’s landmark fire safety and human and environmental health legislation which will be voted on in 2008.

2) Speak out against Technical Bulletin 604 (TB 604), which would regulate the flammability of filled bed clothing including comforters, mattress pads, and pillows, until there is health and environmental information about the chemicals and materials that will be used to meet the regulations. Contact Laura Zuniga, Chief, Bureau of Home Furnishings and Thermal Insulation, at bhfti@dca.ca.gov, (916) 574-2041 to say you don’t want a bed clothing flammability standard that could lead to toxics in your bed.

To learn more and to get involved:

1) Join our e-newsletter to receive updates related to fire retardant chemicals in consumer products and how to reduce them by sending an e-mail to arlene@arleneblum.com

2) Join us for the next Fire Retardant Dilemma meeting, which will be held on September 19 at 150 University Hall, UC Berkeley. To RSVP, send an e-mail with your contact information to FRDilemma@gmail.com

3) View informative PowerPoint lectures from previous Fire Retardant Dilemma meetings at http://greensciencepolicy.org/conferences.shtml

*** About Dr. Arlene Blum ***

Arlene Blum is a biophysical chemist, mountaineer, and author of Breaking Trail: A Climbing Life, which tells stories of high adventure in the chemistry laboratory and the worlds’ toughest mountains. Blum is currently working to bridge the gap between scientific research and public policy to help create a healthier safer environment. She is the scientific advisor for California AB 706, legislation to reduce potentially toxic fire retardant chemicals in furniture and bed clothing in California. Her previous research contributed to the regulation of tris, cancer-causing flame-retardants used in children’s sleepwear.

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