Environment & Health

Most halogen-free flame retardants have an environmentally friendly profile, which means that they pose no harm to the environment and do not bio-accumulate in biota. In addition they have a low (eco) toxicity profile and will eventually mineralize in nature. Due to these characteristics, none of the halogen-free flame retardants are considered to be PBT or vPvB. The environmental and toxicological properties for a number of flame retardants have been summarized in fact sheets. The data in the sheets are typical hazard oriented data and should not be used as such to deduce risks. The sheets are divided into a Health and Environmental chapter, and also include an overall PBT / vPvB analysis to indicate the regulatory status. The fact sheets can be downloaded from this website. View factsheets

Manufacturers of flame retardants have started to identify data gaps and commission the necessary tests and studies, because these will also be required by the new European chemicals legislation, REACH (1907/2006/EC). Under REACH not only hazard data, but also data concerning emissions, uses and end of life will be gathered. One company has already commissioned a life cycle emission study¹.

There have also been various independent, third party evaluations of halogen-free flame retardants as part of environmental programmes initiated by authorities, agencies or NGOs. The majority of these studies specifically assess alternatives to major brominated flame retardants.

These reports sometimes come to different conclusions on the same products, because of different criteria used and because not all authors had the same information available. In various studies the data generated by the manufacturers have not been included. Examples are:

• Washington State Department of Health (2008):
  Alternatives to Deca-BDE in Televisions and Computers and Residential Upholstered Furniture. Department of Ecology State Washington.
  http://www.ecy.wa.gov/biblio/0907041.html
• German UBA 2001:
  Substituting Environmentally Relevant Flame Retardants: Assessment Fundamentals Volume I: Results and summary overview
  http://www.umweltbundesamt.de/uba-info-medien/dateien/1988.htm
• Danish EPA: Environmental Project no. 1141, 2007,
  Deca-BDE and Alternatives in Electrical and Electronic Equipment
  http://www2.mst.dk/Udgiv/publications/2007/978-87-7052-349-3/pdf/978-87-7052-350-9.pdf
• An Overview of Alternatives to Tetrabromobisphenol A (TBBPA) and Hexabromocyclododecane (HBCD). March, 2006
  Prepared for: The Jennifer Altman Foundation, By Gregory Morose
  http://sustainableproduction.org/downloads/AternativestoTBBPAandHBCD.pdf
• Illinois Report: “Report on Alternatives to the Flame Retardant DecaBDE: Evaluation of Toxicity, Availability, Affordability, and Fire Safety Issues”, Illinois Environmental Protection Agency, March 2007
  http://www.epa.state.il.us/reports/decabde-study/index.html
• European Chemicals Bureau (2007): Review on production processes of decabromodiphenyl ether (Deca-BDE) used in polymeric applications in electrical and electronic equipment, and assessment of the availability of potential alternatives to Deca-BDE.
  http://ecb.jrc.it/documents/Existing-Chemicals/Review_on_production_process_of_decaBDE.pdf

¹ 23 Marzi T, Beard A (2006): The ecological footprint of flame retardants over their life cycle- A case study on the environmental profile of new phosphorus based flame retardants. Flame Retardants 2006 Conference. Interscience. ISBN 0954121678. pp. 21-30