2015-10-22 09:11:14
Every year, house fires claim a large number of victims. The use of flame retardants (RDF) in household upholstered furniture to reduce the risk of fires is a subject of debate. The debates relate on the one hand to their effectiveness against the fire risk, due in particular to the difficulty of precisely identifying the origin of these fires, and on the other hand to the potential risks for health and the environment linked to the exposure to these chemicals.
ANSES was asked by the DGCCRF to carry out an expert appraisal on the health risks that would result from the generalization of the treatment of domestic upholstered furniture by RDF.
Examination of the data relating to the supposed effectiveness of RDFs in reducing the risk of fire in dwellings was the subject of an expert report published in December 2014. On the one hand, there are no statistics reliable on the causes of fires in France. On the other hand, the in-depth analysis of the existing data in the countries having adopted legislation leading to the generalization of the use of RDF (United States and United Kingdom) does not make it possible to identify the specific contribution of the treatment of upholstered furniture in reduction in the severity of domestic fires. This report also suggests a series of proposals which have been confirmed by further work.
The second part of the expert report, published today, deals with the potential health and environmental effects of RDFs used in upholstered furniture. The objective was to identify the most used RDFs in upholstered furniture, and to obtain information on their potential effects on health and the environment.
22 chemical substances identified, potential toxic effects on health and the environment
The assessment of the risks presented by the RDFs used in upholstered furniture was faced with difficulties in accessing certain data relating to the identity of the substances used, their concentrations, and their potential for migration to the surface of the furniture.
However, 22 substances have been identified as being the most currently used as RDF in upholstered furniture. Data on their health and environmental effects are uneven in terms of availability and quality. However, the expert appraisal showed that several of these substances present in animal experiments proven or suspected toxicity on reproduction, a potential endocrine disrupting effect, effects on the thyroid or on the immune system, or are potentially carcinogenic or neurotoxic.
In addition, several substances exhibit a ecotoxicity high and/or are hardly biodegradable, and are, in this case, likely to be persistent in the environment.
Moreover, the expertise shows that most of the RDFs are found in the indoor environments, air, and dust.
Of these 22 substances, 19 have been registered under the REACh regulation. For the 3 others, the toxicity data are very limited, even almost non-existent.
Thus, for each of these 22 chemical substances, the available data do not make it possible to exclude potential toxicity to health and/or effects on the environment.
The Agency’s recommendations
In view of all of these conclusions, the Agency recommends not generalizing the treatment of upholstered furniture with flame retardants with the aim of reducing the risk of domestic fires.
The Agency recommends in particular:
- the systematic collection of information on the causes of fires, for example in the form of a “national register of the causes of fires”, making it possible to target risk situations;
- regular maintenance of stand-alone smoke alarm detectors, the installation of which was made compulsory in March 2015;
- periodic inspection of electrical and gas installations in individual and collective residential buildings;
- training and raising the awareness of potentially vulnerable populations in fire risk prevention, as well as the implementation of domestic fire prevention campaigns, along with an evaluation of their results.
Furthermore, it appears necessary to list the substances for use in RDF and their content in the various materials treated, in particular those imported into the European Union, and to improve knowledge of their effects on health and the environment.
The Agency also recommends:
- to develop emission measurement methods representative of the real conditions of use of upholstered objects;
- to adapt the protocols for measuring emission and migration of RDF on the surface to take into account the factors linked to the aging of the treated objects;
- to carry out studies to analyze the life cycle of treated upholstered furniture to combat the dissemination of RDF in the environment, and to improve the protection of workers exposed in recycling channels.
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