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Treading lightly with chemicals

A new tool, the Chemical Footprint Project (CFP), aims to establish meaningful measurement of overall corporate performance towards safer chemicals in products and supply chains. Dr. Mark Rossi, project lead and co-founder of NGO Clean Production… …

A Framework to Guide Selection of Chemical Alternatives

Concerns about the health and environmental impacts associated with some chemical products and processes have motivated a growing number of national, state, and local governments, manufacturers, and retailers to develop assessments and approaches for… …

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Shifting FR Markets

The FRs market is experiencing a massive transformation in chemistry. As of 2013, bromine manufacturers no longer manufacture and use decabromodiphenyl ether (decaBDE) in the U.S. according to the bromine industry association—Bromine Science… …

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Firemaster

One of the most studied of the new FRs is Firemaster 550—a bromine and phosphorous-based compound. Firemaster 550 highlights include:  Used in polyurethane foam products, including seating applications, as an alternative to the now… …

New & Emerging BFRs–Where are the tox data?

But what are manufacturers offering instead of decaBDE and HBCD, also on the phase out pathway due to its restriction by the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants? Albemarle, Chemtura, and ICL are the leading producers of BFRs… …

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BFRs in Electronics & Electrical Devices

Electronics and electrical devices account for 50% of global brominated flame retardant (BFR) consumption. The dominant end uses of BFRs in electronics are in cabinets, housings and printed circuit boards—together they account for roughly 80%… …

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Alternatives: Are FRs Necessary?

A critical approach to chemicals in products in general and plastics in particular is to ask: Is it necessary? For example, is a flame retardant in nap mats even necessary? Driven by government regulations and industry standards, manufacturers now… …

Whack-a-chemical

Government policies drive, somewhat ironically, both the use and restriction of FRs. International, regional, national, state, and local fire safety regulations and flammability standards drive demand for FRs. At the same time the trend in government… …

Facts on Flame Retardants

Global consumption in 2012: 3.9 billion pounds (lbs). With consumption expected to increase to 5.2 billion lbs by 2018 for a compound annual growth rate of 5% for the next five years. (BCC Research) Government regulations, with a major push from FR… …

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Health Effects of Flame Retardants (FRs)

FRs and their adverse health effects are a seemingly ubiquitous topic in scientific journals. Today we provide a snapshot in the table below of the primary health effects of widely used flame retardants. This is a summary table of a few FRs. For… …