Senate Bill S6512

                                
 
BILL NUMBER: S6512

SPONSOR: HARCKHAM
 
TITLE OF BILL:  An act to amend the environmental conservation law, in
relation to prohibiting the use of chemical flame retardants

 
PURPOSE:

The purpose of this bill is to limit residential exposure to chemical
flame retardants and to increase fire safety.

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section 1 amends Article 37 of the Environmental Conservation Law by
adding a new Title 9, entitled Chemical Flame Retardants. This title
defines "chemical flame retardants, " prohibits the use of chemical
flame retardants, and increases fire safety by requiring manufacturers
to certify, beginning December 1, 2021, that residential upholstered
furniture offered for sale in New York meets the requirements of the
"open flame flammability standard."

              

"Open flame flammability standard" is defined as a standard, developed
pursuant to the rules and regulations of the department, in consultation
with the office of fire prevention and control, requiring residential
upholstered furniture to not lead to flashover for at least fifteen
minutes of time. The standard must be reviewed no less than every two
years and include an assessment of the standards used in other states.

The section also authorizes the Department of Environmental Conservation
(DEC) to approve exemptions 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.

Section 2 is the effective date.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

The objective of this bill is to prohibit the use of chemical flame
retardants on residential upholstered furniture because of their propen-
sity to combust with rapidity, as well as their adverse health conse-
quences. These retardants are ineffective in preventing the spread of
fires and, more importantly, when combusted the chemicals that are
released form harmful byproducts that have the potential to affect the
health of firefighters, especially female firefighters.  Recent studies
have shown that approximately 94 percent of couches manufactured after
2005 contain chemical flame retardants. The amount of chemical flame
retardants present in this type of upholstered furniture is capable of
being measured in pounds.

Flame retardant chemicals were added to upholstered furniture in
response to a 1975 California flammability standard study, which was
conducted in response to concerns about the large number of cigarette
fires. However, the increased sale of flame-retardant chemicals has not
eradicated this issue because the chemicals are so ineffective. The
Chicago Tribune quoted an author of one study as saying, "the fire just
laughs at it."

The vast majority of furniture sold in the United States meets the Cali-
fornia standard due to California's large market share. However, scien-
tific studies have demonstrated that meeting the requirements of the
California standard does not accurately reflect real-world fire behav-
ior. 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.

Not only are chemical flame retardants ineffective, they pose dangerous
health risks when used daily as well as when ignited. During normal use,
chemical flame retardants migrate out of furniture and into household
dust. Toddlers typically show three times the level of flame retardants
in their blood streams as their parents because of their tendency to put
household items in their mouth. This exposure is on top of what babies
are born with. Furthermore, some chemical retardants are suspected as
carcinogenic. When combusted, chemical flame retardants can form harmful
by-products that have potential adverse health risks to firefighters. A
recent study in San Francisco found that firefighters had two to three
times the rate of flame retardants in their bloodstream than the aver-
age. 110 female firefighters in the study experienced a risk of breast
cancer that was nearly six times higher than the general population.

Upholstered furniture can be highly volatile when ignited and has become
a leading cause of firefighter and household deaths because of the rapid
propensity to reach an inflamed, all-consumed stage, called flashover.
Statistics demonstrate that when firefighters are able to arrive a a
scene before the contents of a room have reached flashover, a fire is
able to be contained. This bill prohibits the sale of residential uphol-
stered furniture in New York that becomes fully engulfed and subject to
flashover in less than fifteen minutes from the time it is exposed to a
heat source and prohibits the use of certain chemical flame retardants
that are added to the composition of the furniture. Furthermore, the
chemical flame retardants as stipulated in the legislation, are recog-
nized as posing a danger to both firefighters and citizens because of
their toxic qualities when inhaled during a fire. For all of the forego-
ing reasons it is imperative that this bill is enacted.

 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

2017-2018: A.3368A/S.742A referred to Environmental Conservation
2015-2016: S.3844A/A.7837A passed Assembly

2013-2014: A.6557 passed Assembly

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

None to the State.

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect on the thirtieth day after it shall have
become a law; provided however, that section 37-0905 shall take effect
June 1, 2022, and the Department of Environmental Conservation may adopt
regulations necessary to implement the act prior to the effective date.