Policy News - December 4, 2003

In U.S., flame retardants will be phased out

Great Lakes Chemical Corp., the manufacturer of two brominated flame retardants known as the Penta and Octa formulations, will voluntarily stop producing the chemicals by the end of 2004. Company officials announced their decision on November 3, saying they have developed at least one new alternative. The move comes hard on the heels of new California regulations to ban both flame retardants in 2008. The European Union has already banned both.

The two formulations are major sources of the polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) that recent studies indicate are rapidly bioaccumulating in humans, wildlife, and the environment—doubling every two to five years (Environ. Sci. Technol. 2002, 36, 50A-52A).

Banning a chemical in the United States can take years of study and risk analysis. Rather than wait for a regulatory ban, U.S. EPA officials sought a voluntary phaseout with the manufacturer. Both chemicals have been used by the furniture industry for at least 20 years: Penta in upholstered furniture and Octa in the plastic housing for electronics.

Great Lakes Chief Executive Officer Mark Bulriss described Penta and Octa as “safe and effective”. He added that the company is developing “a new generation of environmentally responsive” flame retardants, including Firemaster 550, to replace Penta. An existing product, Great Lakes FF-680, will substitute for Octa.

EPA’s Acting Deputy Administrator Stephen Johnson praised Great Lakes for taking action “as expeditiously as possible” and said that the phaseout will accelerate the shift to safer alternatives. Agency officials noted that they don’t currently believe there is a need to remove or replace products that contain these chemicals.

Great Lakes is the sole manufacturer of Penta, which has been used to flame-retard the flexible foams found in upholstered furniture. Its replacement is a phosphorus–bromine flame retardant. EPA has completed a preliminary assessment of the substitute and concluded that it is not persistent, bioaccumulative, or toxic to aquatic life. The substitute also meets fire safety performance standards for use in consumer products, according to an agency spokesperson.

Officials with environmental groups say they welcome the phaseout, but they note that similar work is needed on yet another flame retardant, Deca-BDE. Research shows Deca could be the source of some of the PBDEs in the environment (see “New research challenges assumptions about popular flame retardant”). —REBECCA RENNER