More about PBDEs, toxic flame retardants

Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), are a type of brominated flame retardant – chemicals that reduce the spread of fire in a variety of common products from fabrics to electronics to plastic. Three different mixtures are available: Deca, Octa, and Penta BDE. These chemicals can be found in home furniture, seats in airplanes and automobiles, and electronics such as fax machines, computers, telephone handsets, televisions, and stereos.

PBDEs are bioaccumulative, concentrating in the fatty tissue of living organisms and building up through the food chain. They do not degrade easily in the environment, and they can be transported across long distances in the air. Toxic flame retardants escape into the environment during manufacture, product use, and disposal. PBDEs are turning up with increasing frequency in human blood and women's breast milk, in household dust, in wildlife, and in many food items.

Numerous alternatives to PBDEs are available, safe to human health, cost effective, and capable of meeting stringent fire standards. Indeed, many companies – such as Intel, Ikea, and Ericsson—have already found safer alternatives to these toxic flame retardants with no reduction in fire safety. Now is the time to stop using these chemicals altogether, since we know that when we stop using them, levels in our bodies go down. When Sweden banned the use of PBDEs, levels in breast milk decreased dramatically.

In 2005, the Oregon Legislature passed OSPIRG-backed Senate Bill 962, which will phase out the use and sale of the Octa and Penta mixtures of PBDEs in Oregon.