About a year and a half ago, I came up short in helping our state stop a requirement for toxic flame retardants in baby product foams. These chemicals are technically known as "halogenated flame retardants" or HFRs. Here is a short video by scientist and one of the foremost experts on this issue, Arlene Blum, on these chemicals.

Some of these HFRs are carcinogens, and others are known to reduce IQ and fertility. They are found at the highest levels in U.S. household dust coming from the foam in sofas to breastfeeding pillows, and can be found in our bodies, including that of babies. Here is a well-known study on the record-high levels of toxic flame retardants in U.S. human breast milk.

Still, there is money to made from these chemicals as California mandates their use, including in the padding of changing tables, breastfeeding pillows and the cushions of car seats and baby strollers. For example, the chemicals chlorinated tris that was removed from baby pajamas in the 1970s has been found to be 12 percent of the weight of the foam in a changing table pad.

Our fight almost two years ago was ugly as the chemical industry and local U.S. Chamber of Commerce dumped millions of dollars to fund a faux astroturf group called "Citizens for Fire Safety" and trotted out Asian burn victims and African American children to -bully- scare Assembly members to vote their way.

The good news is that Sen. Mark Leno is sponsoring a new bill to give consumers a choice about whether to buy products with toxic flame retardants. SB 147 requires the Bureau of Electronic and Appliance Repair, Home Furnishings and Thermal Insulation (BEARHFTI) to come up with a flammability standard that can be met without the use of chemical fire retardants. It also calls on the Bureau to consider a fire safety standard set forth by the Consumer Product Safety Commission that won’t require flame retardants.

Here's a YouTube of Sen. Mark Leno introducing the "Consumer Choice Fire Safety Act".

The bill's second wind could not have come at a better time. Wal-Mart just asked its merchants and suppliers to eliminate certain flame retardants from its products. "Testing should be performed to verify that Pentabrominated diphenyl ether (pentaBDE), Octabrominated diphenyl ether (octaBDE), and Decabrominated diphenyl ether (decaBDE) are not detected in consumer products," an internal Wal-Mart notice stated.

Target and Costco are apparently doing the same, according to this article in Scientific American.

Good on them. Hopefully, we'll be able to help them out on the legislative front.