Toxic Flame Retardants Still Unregulated in WA

from WA Toxics Coalition

Despite strong bipartisan support, the Washington state legislature failed for the second consecutive year to pass important legislation to phase out the use of toxic flame retardants called PBDEs that are rapidly building up in breast milk, our bodies, and in wildlife. PBDEs are chemical cousins of long-banned PCBs, and are known to impair learning, behavior, and development in lab animals.

The bill (HB 1488), sponsored by Rep. Ross Hunter and Sen. Debbie Regala, would have been a major step forward in making Washington state a leader in protecting children's health from toxic chemicals in products. A weakened version of the bill passed in the House unanimously. It was restored to full strength in a Senate committee but did not proceed. The bill would have:

* Phased out the most widely used form of PBDE, known as deca, in electronic enclosures for televisions and computers by 2010.

* Phased out deca in residential upholstered furniture and mattresses and mattress pads by 2012.

* Phased out penta and octa forms of PBDEs by 2007. These two forms have already been voluntarily phased out by the U.S. chemical industry but the bill would have prevented Washington state from importing products that contained these chemicals.

* Required the departments of Ecology and Health, in consultation with the State Fire Marshal, to identify a safer, effective alternative before the ban on deca took effect.

Despite having a majority of senators pledging support for the bill, the out-of-state chemical-industry interests lobbied aggressively against the bill, spreading misinformation about its impacts, and convinced a few key senators not to let the bill come up for a vote. The companies who opposed the bill are the same companies--Albemarle and Great Lakes Chemical--that have their roots in leaded gasoline, ethylene dibromide (a leaded gasoline additive and banned pesticide), and methyl bromide (a highly toxic agricultural pesticide). Their claims of deca safety run contrary to our own state agencies findings. The Washington State Departments of Ecology and Health found that deca breaks down into the forms that the PBDE makers agreed to phase out (penta and octa) over environmental and health concerns. In addition, chemical company claims that the bill would negatively impact fire safety standards were proved false by companies like HP, Dell, and Ikea that meet the highest fire safety standards without the use of PBDEs.

The PBDE bill was a priority of the environmental community and was supported by the Washington State Nurses Association, the Washington chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, the Washington State Departments of Ecology and Health, and many other organizations.

For more info see www.watoxics.org or call 206.632.1545.