SAN FRANCISCO, U.S.A.- A Chicago Tribune investigation reveals that corporations making halogenated flame retardant chemicals spent tens of millions of dollars on public relations firms, lobbyists, and front groups to deceive the American people and legislators into believing their toxic chemicals are both necessary and safe.

“We have flame retardant chemicals similar to banned pesticides like DDT in our furniture that end up in our bodies, our pets, and wildlife,” said Arlene Blum, PhD,  UC Berkeley chemist, and Green Science Policy Institute founder. “This investigation should help stop new flammability standards  that are designed to sell chemicals rather than to increase fire safety.”

“Studies on halogenated flame retardants find they can cause lowered IQ, learning disabilities, infertility, other reproductive problems, and endocrine system irregularities,” says Sharyle Patton from Commonweal Biomonitoring Resource Center.

“Scientific evidence is exhaustive, yet the flame retardant industry continues to deceive the public and policymakers,” says Martha Dina Arguello of Physicians for Social Responsibility-LA. ”It’s time we stop exposing ourselves to unnecessary toxics that can impede children’s ability to learn, can cause cancer, and are linked to many health problems low-income and communities of color face.”

“Firefighters have elevated rates of multiple myeloma, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, prostate, testicular cancer, malignant melanoma, brain cancer; many linked to halogenated flame retardants,” says Tony Stefani, cancer survivor, founder, San Francisco Firefighters Cancer Prevention Foundation, and retired SF Fire Department Captain. “Lawmakers should stop listening to chemical industry representatives who misrepresent the facts.”

Judy Levin  with Center for Environmental Health comments, ”It is time that devious tactics used by the chemical industry are exposed to the public. Their drive for corporate profit trumps ethics, honesty, or concern for human health or the environment.”

“California leaders should be moved to stop the use of these dangerous chemicals,” says Janette Robinson Flint of Black Women for Wellness. ”Our community already has staggering health inequalities, and is overburdened with chemical exposure in our personal care and cleaning products, food, and now even furniture in our homes…enough is enough.”

“An obsolete CA. regulation (Technical Bulletin 117) de facto forces companies to use toxic chemicals in their products. Both business owners and consumers lose with this industry influenced scenario,” comments Richard Holober of Consumer Federation of California.

Info: http://toxicfreefiresafety.net/CaliforniansForToxicFreeFireSafety.php

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Beyond Pesticides, along with Center for Environmental Health, Farmworker Justice, Healthy Schools Network, The Endocrine Disruption Exchange and over 100 national, state and local grassroots organizations, told the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to protect public health and eliminate unnecessary pyrethroid pesticides.

The group criticized EPA’s cumulative risk assessment, which concluded that pyrethroids “do not pose risk concerns for children or adults,” ignoring a wealth of peer reviewed studies linking this class of chemicals to cancer, respiratory and reproductive problems. EPA went as far as to state that it will consider additional uses, opening the flood gates and endangering public health.

EPA is mandated to complete cumulative risk assessments for pesticides, like pyrethroids, that have the same mechanism of toxicity. However, as the commenters point out, EPA’s evaluation ignores various routes of exposure, underestimating the risks.

The agency also chose to reduce the Food Quality Protection Act (FQPA) safety factor from 10 to 3 times for children less than six years of age and eliminate it completely for children over six. The FQPA safety factor is intended to protect infants and children to account for their special vulnerability to pesticides. Given that children are particularly sensitive to certain pyrethroids, this reduction is egregious.

Pyrethroids are used for indoor pest control, mosquito management, in agriculture, and on pets. Exposure has been reported to lead to headaches, dizziness, nausea, irritation, and skin sensations. EPA classifies pyrethroids permethrin and cypermethrin as possible human carcinogens, and permethrin as a suspected hormone disruptor.

Pyrethroids have also been linked to respiratory problems and triggering asthma attacks. Many are persistent and CDC reports that pyrethroids contaminate the bodies of more than half of all U.S. residents.

At the same time, there are clear established methods for managing homes, schools and other buildings without toxic pesticides, including exclusion techniques, sanitation and maintenance practices, as well as mechanical and least toxic, non-volatile pesticides.

Organic agriculture, which now produces yields similar to or greater than chemical-intensive farming, has proven that these chemicals are not necessary on the farm either. And, it is more effective to fight mosquitoes with natural larvicides than it is to fog with pyrethroids. Based on the host of health effects linked to this chemical class, pyrethroid use is hazardous and unnecessary.

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