Proposal would ban trio of toxins used in everyday products
Proponents say flame retardants leak into bodies
Lawmakers in Olympia have jumped into a searing debate about chemical flame retardants.
A proposed law would make Washington the first state in the nation to ban a trio of long-lived industrial chemicals commonly added to televisions, computers and other electronics.
Scientists have found the fire-proofing chemicals -- polybrominated diphenyl ethers -- in fish caught in the Columbia River, local women's breast milk and household dust in Seattle.
"It's a kids' issue," said Rep. Ross Hunter, a Medina Democrat who sponsored the legislation. "This is about having children who are healthy and don't have neurological damage."
Although there's no evidence that PBDEs have accumulated in people at levels that pose an immediate health threat, there are concerns that the flame retardants can harm brain and bone development and thyroid function. Beginning in July 2007, the legislation would prohibit the sale of numerous products containing PBDEs, such as electronics, mattresses, seat cushions, carpet pads and telephone handsets. Manufacturers would have to eliminate the chemicals from their production lines.
There's a major exemption for the "transportation industry," meaning Boeing and automobile distributors and dealers would largely be spared. Other businesses could apply for limited exemptions.
"It is complicated, because this stuff is everywhere, but the ban is a necessary part of solving PBDE contamination in our breast milk and our bodies," said Laurie Valeriano of the Washington Toxics Coalition, which is devoted to cleansing the environment of toxic chemicals.
Critics say the proposed ban simply goes too far. With deadlines looming, the controversial legislation has a slim chance of passing this year.
"There's a lot of evolving science," said John Kyte, a Washington, D.C.-based spokesman for the Bromine Science and Environmental Forum, an international industry group. "Our fundamental interest is to make sure decisions are based on good science and a full appreciation of the role that PBDEs play."
The fireproofing of household and workplace products is well-intentioned. Each year, fires kill more than 600 children under the age of 15 and injure nearly 47,000 nationwide, according to a Washington Department of Ecology study.
The use of PBDEs is so widespread that it would become a huge financial burden for industries to stop that practice overnight.
"There are significant economic and fire-safety implications of banning it," Kyte said.
The Washington legislation is based in part on a "chemical action plan" released by the Ecology Department in December. It called for a ban on the production and sale of items containing the two most dangerous forms of the PBDEs and recommended developing a proposal for banning a third, called Deca-BDE.
Over time, the chemicals appear to escape out of the products to which they're added, leaching out of plastics and crumbling foam. But there has been international debate about the risks posed by the third form of the flame retardant.
Industry groups insist it is safe, while environmentalists and some government officials maintain there is cause for concern.
Continue reading this story from the Seattle P-I:
Proposal would ban trio of toxins used in everyday products
