Preschools Contain High Amounts of Toxic Flame Retardants, Research Finds

Preschools and day care centers are full of toxic flame retardant chemicals, the San Francisco Chronicle reported earlier this month.  Brominated flame retardants and tris phosphate compounds have been linked to hormone disruption and lowered IQs, and are chemicals known to the State of California to cause cancer.

Flame retardant chemicals have become widespread in our home and office environments, and it is unsurprising that they are present in preschools and day care centers as well.  They have been present in foam padded furniture for decades because of a California flammability standard that has only recently been overhauled, and the chemicals migrate out of the furniture and into household dust, to be ingested or absorbed through the skin.

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.