Recently, Governor Brown’s Chief of the Bureau of Home Furnishings and Thermal Insulation (BEARHFTI) announced that the Bureau will revise California’s out-of-date and ineffective flammability standard (TB 117). TB 117 has offered no fire safety benefit, and instead exposed our nation to millions of pounds of toxic chemicals in our furniture and baby products.
But the fight is not over.
We can be sure that the chemical industry and their phony industry-funded front group, Citizens for Fire Safety, will try every trick in the book and spare no expense to hijack the standard reform process. Citizens for Fire Safety (funded by Albemarle, Chemtura and ICL Limited, the three leading makers of flame retardant chemicals) spent over $23 million in lobbying expenses and political donations to stop five separate bills that would have changed this dangerous and toxic regulation.
Our next step is at the federal level-- please tell the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) that they need to enact their draft 2008 furniture flammability standard.
The CPSC’s draft flammability standard would offer greater fire safety as well as prevent exposure to toxic and untested chemicals. We need the CPSC to enact this standard NOW, to protect children and families from unnecessary and harmful flame retardant chemicals.
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