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22.01.02 National
Academy of Sciences Completes Toxicological
Review of Flame-Retardant Chemicals
for Upholstered Furniture The
National Academy of Sciences' National Research Council has determined that
eight of the 16 chemicals
identified by the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) used to make
upholstered furniture
resistant to small-open flame ignition pose little or no risk to consumers.
The council recommended
further study for the other eight flame-retardant chemicals that may be used
to treat upholstery
fabrics to meet the CPSC's potential federal standard for small-open flame
ignition of upholstered
furniture. A
comprehensive review of the scientific literature was undertaken by the NAS
panel to identify adverse health
effects to consumers associated with flame-retardant chemicals. "We
concluded that eight of these 16
chemicals can be used to treat residential furniture with minimal risk to
human health," said Donald Gardner,
chair of the Research Council panel that wrote the report. "Studies are
needed on the other eight,
however, to find out how much exposure people would actually have to these
chemicals if they were used
on home furniture. If a high amount of exposure is likely for a particular
chemical, then further studies on
its toxicity may be warranted." The eight
chemicals deemed safe by the NAS are hexabromocyclododecane,
decabromodiphenyl oxide, alumina
trihydrate, magnesium hydroxide, zinc borate, ammonium polyphosphates,
phosphonic acid, and tetrakis
hydroxymethyl phosphonium chloride. Although toxicity data for some of them
are inadequate for certain
routes of exposure, these chemicals were determined to be safe even under the
worst-case exposure
assumptions. Because of
limited data, the panel could not rule out the potential for eight of the
flame-retardant chemicals
to cause health problems, so it recommended further study to determine the
extent to which the
population could be exposed to these chemicals. The eight chemicals requiring
exposure analyses or dermal
absorption studies are antimony trioxide, antimony pentoxide and sodium
antimonates, calcium and zinc
molybdates, organic phosphonates and cyclic phosphonate esters (dimethyl
hydrogen phosphite),
tris (monochloropropyi) phosphates, tris (1,3-dichloropropyl-2) phosphate, aromatic phosphate
plasticizers, (tricresyi phosphate) and chlorinated paraffins. The 1999
CPSC appropriations bill directed the NAS to conduct this study. The CPSC is
required by Congress
to consider the findings and conclusions of the NAS study before promulgating
a federal mandatory
standard for small-flame ignition of upholstered furniture. Copies of
the report, "Toxicological Risks of Selected Flame-Retardant
Chemicals" will be available in June from
the National Academy Press. |