National Academy of Science study on Flame Retardants used for Upholstered Furnitures
A study by the National Academy of Sciences’ Research Council* has confirmed that decabromodiphenyl oxide (DBDPO), hexabromocyclododecane (HBCD) and magnesium hydroxide used as flame retardants in upholstered furniture, pose little or no health risk to people who may be exposed to them in the home.
About 100 Americans, most of them children, die each year in home fires that start in upholstered furniture. At the request of the National Association of State Fire Marshals, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) is considering a flammability standard for all residential upholstered furniture sold in the United States. This prompted Congress to ask the Research Council to study the health risks posed by exposure to flame-retardant chemicals that are likely to be used to treat furniture. It is estimated that these chemicals would be applied to several hundred million square yards of fabric each year in the United States.
Because there are very few studies on exposure to flame-retardant chemicals from residential furniture, the research panel intentionally overestimated possible exposure by using extremely conservative assumptions. For example, the scenario for skin exposure was an adult sitting for six hours every day on a couch treated with flame-retardant chemicals, with potential exposure over 25 percent of the upper torso area. Any protection that clothing could offer was not considered. In addition to contact with the skin, it was assumed that exposure could occur by inhaling fabric particles or vapors, and that children could be exposed by sucking on the fabric.
A comprehensive review of scientific literature was undertaken by the panel to identify adverse health effects associated with flame-retardant chemicals. The highest dose at which no adverse health effects would be observed and the lowest dose at which a chemical may cause harm were estimated and compared against the panel's worst-case exposure estimates. This allowed a judgment to be made about whether a particular route of exposure to the chemicals investigated may present a health risk.
Of the 16 chemicals studied, NAS concluded that 8 of them, including decabromodiphenyl oxide (DBDPO), hexabromocyclododecane (HBCD) and magnesium hydroxide can be used to treat fabric “with minimal risk to human health”.
The National Academy of Sciences report on FR toxicology is available to be read on the NAS website at http://www.nap.edu/books/0309070473/html/
* The National Research Council is the principal operating arm of the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering. It is a private, nonprofit organization that provides advice on science and technology under a congressional charter.