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Funding programmes Upcoming calls Knowledge Centre National funding opportunities. Brominated flame retardants. They are the hidden protection against the potentially devastating impact of fire in so many products that we take for granted. Flame retardants are used in four major areas to comply with fire safety requirements. A s with all chemicals, flame retardants are regulated and their uses in products and materials are in accordance with chemical safety assessments.
These comprehensive laws ensure that chemicals, including flame retardants, are regulated in a way that protects human health and the environment. Bromine is commonly used in flame retardants due to its high atomic mass and its general versatility across a wide range of applications and polymers. Brominated and chlorinated flame retardants work by interfering with combustion, which can increase the amount of the gases. The evidence "leads one to assume that these chemicals could increase fire safety concerns, not decrease them," said Heather Stapleton, an environmental chemist at Duke University who specializes in studying brominated compounds.
The new research focused on brominated polystyrene, a newer flame retardant manufactured by Albemarle Corp. It is added to nylon for use in textiles, upholstery and electrical connectors. These newer compounds were designed to replace older flame retardants, mostly polybrominated diphenyl ethers or PBDEs, which have been banned since because they were building up in human bodies, including breast milk. PBDEs are still found in furniture manufactured before the bans.
PBDEs and other halogenated flame retardants were already known to produce other toxic chemicals when they burn, including highly toxic dioxins and furans.
Foam containing this chemical was shown to release high amounts of carbon monoxide and smoke during ignition, according to a study. With or without fires, research suggests, flame retardants may have risks.
PBDEs and other halogenated flame retardants have come under intense scrutiny in recent years. PBDEs have been linked in some studies of people and animals to impaired neurological development, reduced fertility, early onset of puberty and altered thyroid hormones. Tris also may be toxic to the developing nervous system. Albemarle Corp. Chemtura Corp. The companies have maintained that flame retardants play a critical role by allowing longer escape and response times during a fire, thereby saving lives and property.
Bryan Goodman, a spokesman for the American Chemistry Council, which represents chemical companies, called the claim that fire retardants may increase fire deaths "irresponsible, as it ignores important research.
However, because they do not easily break down, they can remain persistent in the environment for years. They can also bioaccumulate, or build up in people and animals over time. People can be exposed to flame retardants through a variety of ways, including diet; consumer products in the home, car, airplane, and workplace; and house dust. Although flame retardants can offer benefits when they are added to some products, a growing body of evidence shows that many of these chemicals are associated with adverse health effects in animals and humans.
These include:. Children may be particularly vulnerable to the toxic effects of these chemicals, because their brain and other organs are still developing. Hand-to-mouth behavior and proximity to the floor increases the potential of children to be exposed to flame retardants.
Researchers have found that children have higher concentrations of flame retardants in their bodies than adults. There are hundreds of different flame retardants.
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