Fire retardant chemicals: health hazard or a life saver?
Fire retardant chemicals: health hazard or a life saver?
Former civil servant and fire regulations expert Terry Edge says it's time people in the UK were told just what chemicals are in our furniture and given the option to buy non-FR products if they want
Dr Arlene Blum at the Green Science Policy Institute in California has worked to limit FR chemicals in US furniture, despite having to withstand formidable opposition from the powerful chemical industry. But in the UK, fire regs covering furniture that were introduced in 1988 have yet to be updated and former civil servant Terry Edge maintains we're being sold furniture that is dangerous to our health and far from fire-safe.
(This article is one of our in-depth long read features..so be prepared to scroll down!)
‘Arlene’s work has shown how dangerous FR chemicals are,' says Edge. 'Very simply the chemicals break away from the foam or fabric and become part of the dust in the air. The particles settle on surfaces our homes and we touch them and ingest them. And in the case of a fire, they emit a toxic smoke.’