Press Release: Cal/EPA Supports Chan Bill to Ban Two Forms of Chemical PBDE

For Immediate Release (R2-2003)
July 7, 2003

Contact: William L. Rukeyser, Cal/EPA
916-324-9670 
(cell) 916-715-5852

Cal/EPA Secretary Winston Hickox has informed Assembly Member Wilma Chan (D-Oakland) that Cal/EPA supports her bill to ban two forms of PBDEs (polybrominated diphenyl ethers) which are chemicals used as flame-retardants in a variety of products.

PBDEs accumulate in human and other animal tissues and may have adverse health effects. Two types of industrial formulations of PBDEs that would be banned by Ms Chan’s Assembly Bill 302 -- pentabrominated diphenyl ethers (penta BDEs) and octabrominated diphenyl ethers (octa BDEs) -- have already been banned in the European Union and some manufacturers have voluntarily stopped their use in the U.S.

Secretary Hickox said, “Chemicals of this sort should be regulated at the national level, but in the face of inaction in Washington DC, the state must protect its citizens’ health. I am proud that research by Cal/EPA scientists helped alert the nation to the buildup (bioaccumulation) of PBDEs in Californians’ tissues and mothers’ milk. I am confident Assembly Member Chan’s bill will result in a decline that will protect our health.”

Assembly Member Wilma Chan commented, “I hope that banning these dangerous chemicals will spark the rest of the nation to take action. My bill protects the health of all Californians, particularly children. I am delighted to have the support of Cal/EPA."

Another industrial formulation of PBDEs, decabromodiphenyl ethers, bioaccumulate less than the penta BDEs and the octa BDEs and would not be affected by AB302. In addition there are numerous alternative fire retardants that can be used in upholstery, electronics and other products that do not contain PBDEs.

In his letter to Ms Chan, Secretary Hickox states, “These chemicals … raise serious public health questions in the United States. PBDEs have been shown to disrupt functioning of the human thyroid gland and may adversely affect brain development in children. The world’s highest PBDE levels have been found in North American women, including women from California. These levels are 10- to 40-fold higher than levels in European women, and are approaching levels that have been found to adversely affect learning, memory and behavior in laboratory mice.

Moreover, PBDEs appear to be omnipresent, from indoor air to the tissues of harbor seals in San Francisco Bay, birds in the Great Lakes and polar bears in the Arctic.

“AB 302 builds upon the experiences in Europe and provides leadership for the rest of the United States. Switching to safer alternatives will be practical for the manufacturers that currently use PBDEs. The bill takes decisive action to abate an emerging health and environmental threat that has been uncovered by scientific research, and we appreciate your authorship.”

The ban is set to be effective at the beginning of 2008. In the interim scientists from Cal/EPA’s Department of Toxic Substance Control and Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment are continuing to study the accumulation of PBDEs.

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