The New York State Senate

Permit DEC to authorize an exemption to the prohibition on the use of
chemical flame retardants upon a determination that the proposed
chemical flame retardant does not pose a risk to human health or the
environment. In addition, such chemical would be required to undergo a
comprehensive health impact assessment conducted by the Department of
Health.

JUSTIFICATION:

Recent studies have shown that approximately 94 percent of couches
manufactured after 2005 contain chemical flame retardants - in amounts
capable of being measured in pounds. The flame retardant chemicals
were added in response to a 1975 California flammability standard, TB
117, which was developed in response to concerns about the large
number of cigarette fires. An editorial in Newsday described the
process as follows: "So, the (cigarette) industry solution to these
unfortunate deaths was to add flame retardant chemicals to furniture.
The result: a vast increase in sales of flame-retardant chemicals,
even though they're ineffective". The Chicago Tribune quoted the
author of one study as saying: "The fire just laughs at it." The
lion's share of furniture sold in the United States meets the
California standard due to California's large market share.

Scientific studies have also demonstrated that meeting the
requirements of TB 117 did not accurately reflect real-world fire
behavior and that the addition of chemical flame retardants offered
very little additional effectiveness. A study conducted by the United
States Department of Commerce National Bureau of Standards found that
there were no significant differences in fire resistance between
treated and untreated foams.


The chemical flame retardants migrate out of furniture and into
household dust. Because of their tendency to put items in their mouth,
toddlers typically have three times the level of flame retardants as
their parents. This exposure is on top of what babies are born with.
An article in the Chicago Tribune stated "A typical American baby is
born with the highest recorded concentrations of flame retardants
among infants in the world." Many flame retardants, most notably
halogenated chemical retardants, have been associated with adverse
health impacts. For example, the Consumer Product Safety Commission
identified the flame retardant Tris as a threat to human health, and
California has identified Tris as a suspected human carcinogen. In
addition, when combusted, chemical flame retardants can also form
harmful by-products with the potential to affect the health of
firefighters adversely. A recent study in San Francisco found that
firefighters had two to three times the rate of flame retardants in
their blood stream than average and found that the 110 female
firefighters in the study experienced a risk of breast cancer that was
nearly six times higher than the general population.

In addition, there is precedent for banning dangerous flame
retardants. New York State has previously banned the use of the
brominated flame retardant PentaBDE, and banned the use of Tris (TCEP)
in children's products. This bill, which was developed after Assembly
hearings, would prohibit the use of chemical flame retardants in
residential upholstered furniture in order to decrease adverse health
impacts and to ensure that chemical fire retardant-laden furniture
developed for the prior California standard does not continue to be
sold in New York once California revises their standard. (California
has recently proposed revisions to TB 117 to reflect more accurate
fire conditions and the development of the Fire Safe Cigarette Act,
which has contributed to decreased cigarette-related fires.) In
addition, this bill would also require residential upholstered
furniture manufacturers to comply with an open flame standard
beginning in 2018, reflective of a similar standard for residential
mattresses adopted by the Consumer Product Safety Commission. Although
the advent of fire safe cigarettes has led to a decrease in fire
deaths, open flame fires continue to remain deadly. Statistics
indicate that approximately 25 percent of fire deaths involve
upholstered furniture, with approximately 50 percent caused by open
flames such as candles and 50 percent from smoldering such as
cigarettes. In order to encourage innovative, chemical-free responses,
the method by which manufacturers could comply with the standard would
not be specified; however, a requirement of providing at least 15
minutes before the furniture reaches ignition temperature and fire
spreads rapidly would be included in order to ensure that people have
sufficient time to escape safely. This time frame would also provide
additional time for emergency responders to arrive.

PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

A.6557 of 2013-2014 (Sweeney): Passed Assembly

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

None.

EFFECTIVE DATE:


This act shall take effect immediately; provided however, that section
37-0905 shall take effect June 1, 2018, and the Department of
Environmental Conservation may adopt regulations necessary to
implement the act prior to the effective date.