Washington – The US Environmental Protection Agency has announced that oligomeric phosphonate polyos are a safer alternative to pentaBDE for polyurethane foams.
“EPA’s findings for safer alternatives is great news for consumers and industry,” said Jim Jones, Assistant Administrator for EPA’s Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention. “We will now have safer alternatives for use in our products from furniture to car seats to building insulation.”
The EPA said that flame retardant chemicals such as hexabromocyclododecane (HBCD) and pentabromodiphenyl ether (pentaBDE) raise concerns for human health and the environment including potential reproductive, developmental, and neurological effects and can be persistent, bioaccumulative, and toxic to aquatic organisms.
EPA is releasing the final report on alternatives to the flame retardant HBCD and releasing an updated draft report on alternatives to the flame retardant pentaBDE. These alternatives were identified through EPA’s Design for the Environment (DfE) Alternatives Assessment Program.
Oligomeric phosphonate polyol is identified as a safer alternative to pentaBDE. The pentaBDE report will help industry choose safer alternatives to meet product flammability standards for consumer products containing flexible polyurethane foam.
