“Do Flame Retardants Work?”
A 4 ½ minute video asks the question “Do flame retardants work?” to 6 leading experts and scientists, interviewed at the BCC Research annual conference. They replied:
- Douglas Fox, American University: decades of university and government research has confirmed that FRs delay time to flashover – from just 3 minutes without FRs – which is a matter of life and death.
- Jaime Grunlan, Texas A&M University: many tests in his University’s labs confirm that products with FRs don’t burn, whereas without FRs they burn vigorously, with billowing black smoke. There is no question that FRs work.
- Marcello Hirschler, GBH International: when used right, FRs very significantly increase escape and rescue time and massively decrease heat release, which can kill in fire. Two recent studies confirm this.
- Bob Howell, Central Michigan University: examples of fires in aircraft and school bus, where all passengers got out alive and uninjured, show the FRs allow time to escape. They both delay ignition and retard flame spread.
- Charles Wilkie, Marquette University: we use more and more plastics which are inherently flammable, burning with lots of smoke. FRs can prevent these fires and save lives.
- Frederico Cioso, Wallengerg Wood Science Center: without FRs, buildings would not be protected from fire and if one occurs, many lives would be lost.
“Do Flame Retardants Work”, 4 ½ mins video, interviews from the BCC Research annual conference on Recent Advances in Flame Retardancy of Polymeric Materials, sponsored by the American Chemistry Council http://polymer-fire.com/2015/05/26/do-flame-retardants-work/