EPA to Conduct Risk Assessments on Flame Retardant Chemicals
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced last week that it will begin assessments of 23 commonly used chemicals, with a specific focus on flame retardants, in order to understand potential risks to people and the environment.
The list includes 20 flame retardant chemicals, four of which will undergo full risk assessments. Those four are:
- Tris(2-chloroethyl) phosphate (TCEP)
- 2-Ethylhexyl ester 2,3,4,5- tetrabromobenzoate (TBB)
- 1,2- Ethylhexyl 3,4,5,6-tetrabromo-benzenedicarboxylate or (2-ethylhexyl)-3,4,5,6 tetrabromophthalate (TBPH)
- Hexabromocyclododecane (HBCD)
The other flame retardant chemicals on the list currently lack enough data to undergo full assessments, but eight of these chemicals with similar characteristics will be grouped with the four listed above.
TCEP, one of the flame retardant chemicals undergoing a full risk assessment, has been on California’s Proposition 65 list of chemicals known to cause cancer since 1992. Under Proposition 65, companies cannot offer products containing TCEP for sale in California without first providing a health hazard warning to consumers and users of the products. Clients of The Chanler Group have discovered many products containing TCEP for sale in California without the required warning, such as chairs, stools, ottomans, pillows, and more, and have served dozens of 60-Day Notices of Proposition 65 Violations on the manufacturers of these products.
The Chanler Group represents citizen enforcers who, acting in the public interest, commence actions against businesses offering products for sale in California that contain chemicals known to cause cancer or reproductive harm without first providing the health hazard warning required by Proposition 65. Citizen enforcers bringing Proposition 65 actions in the public interest may obtain a Court Judgment imposing civil penalties, an injunction requiring reformulation of products, and/or provision of health hazard warnings. The Chanler Group has represented citizen enforcers of Proposition 65 for more than twenty years.