USA Senators urge EPA to take action on PBDEs

USA Senators wrote a letter to urge the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to move forward as quickly as possible with its current efforts to protect American families from the toxic effects of PBDEs. PBDEs are suspected to cause cance and have been linked to serious neurological and reproductive diaseases. Thay can be found in a number of everyday consumer products, including furniture, plastics, and even baby products to purportedly make the products more flame resistant.

However, the Consumer Product Safety Commission found that these chemicals do not provide any significant protection against the risk of fires. And a recent investigative reprot by the Chicago Tribune revealed that flame retardant manufacturers may have misled the public for decades regarding both the risks and efficacy of these chemicals.