News

California consultation on priority products

San Francisco votes flame retardant ban

POPs Committee confirms ban on DecaBDE

California consultation on priority products: California the Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) has opened public consultation (to November 6th) on which “product categories” should be considered in its Work Plan 2018-2020. Currently, amongst others, the following product categories (relevant to flame retardants) are considered: building products, furniture and furnishings (household and office), clothing, office machinery. In these categories, exposure to “candidate chemicals” is assessed, and these include: brominated flame retardants, some chlorinated FRs, and some other flame retardant chemicals t‐Butylphenyl diphenyl phosphate, Tricresyl phosphate, Trimethyl phosphate, Triphenyl phosphate, Trixylyl phosphate, 2‐Ethylhexyl diphenyl phosphate, Dimethylphosphate, Isodecyl diphenyl phosphate, Isopropylated triphenyl phosphate, Resorcinol bis(diphenyl phosphate)

San Francisco votes flame retardant ban: the City of San Francisco has voted an ordonnance which will ban all flame retardants in a range of products for children and in upholstered furniture, where sold in the City including online sales, from January 2019 (July 2019 for products with electrical or electronic components). The ban covers any “Flame Retardant Chemical” defined as “any chemical or chemical compound for which a functional use is to resist or inhibit the spread of fire. Flame Retardant Chemicals include, but are not limited to, halogenated, phosphorous based, nitrogen based, and nanoscale flame retardants”. Rhode Island recently passed a ban (H5082) on halogenated flame retardants in residential furniture and which will come into effect in 2019.

POPs Committee confirms ban on DecaBDE: The 11th meeting of the Persistent Organic Pollutants Review Committee (POPRC.11), 19-23 October, Rome, adopted the Risk Management Evaluation of the brominated flame retardant DecaBDE, and confirmed the decision of the COP POP meeting April 2017 (see pinfa Newsletter n°81) to add DecaBDE to Annex A of the Stockholm Convention. This effectively means a worldwide ban on production and use. POPRC.11 confirmed exemption from this ban for some automotive and aviation spare parts. The meeting also adopted the Risk Profile on short-chained chlorinated paraffins (SCCP) and established a working group to now define a Risk Management Evaluation for this substance.