By LESLIE KAUFMAN<\/p>\n
Three manufacturers of a commonly used fire retardant have voluntarily agreed to phase out its production within three years in a pact with the Environmental Protection Agency.<\/p>\n
Environmentalists have long advocated a ban on the retardant decabromodiphenyl ether, or DecaBDE, which is used widely in consumer electronics, furniture and textiles, among other items. It has been found to be a potential carcinogen and to be toxic to the nervous system.<\/p>\n
The agreement, with the manufacturers Chemtura, Albemarle and ICL Industrial Products, would end the production, importation and use of the chemical in all consumer products by December 2012. A full ban would take effect one year later.<\/p>\n
No accord has been reached with a Japanese manufacturer that exports products with the substance to the United States.<\/p>\n
The chemical \u201cpersists in the environment, potentially causes cancer and may impact brain function,\u201d Steve Owens, the E.P.A.\u2019s top toxics official, said in announcing the deal late Thursday. Mr. Owens said it could also degrade into more toxic chemicals hazardous to wildlife.<\/p>\n
Some states have already passed legislation prohibiting the product\u2019s manufacture or use in certain products, and others are weighing similar laws.<\/p>\n
Alex Formuzis, a spokesman for the Environmental Working Group, a nonprofit environmental research and advocacy organization, welcomed the accord but said more federal action was needed. \u201cWe still want a legislative ban,\u201d Mr. Formuzis said, \u201cor else it might be reintroduced in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By LESLIE KAUFMAN Three manufacturers of a commonly used fire retardant have voluntarily agreed to phase out its production within three years in a pact with the Environmental Protection Agency. Environmentalists have long advocated a ban on the retardant decabromodiphenyl ether, or DecaBDE, which is used widely in consumer electronics, furniture and textiles, among other… Continue reading Companies to Stop Using a Chemical<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-309","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-risk","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/estrategist.com\/members\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/309","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/estrategist.com\/members\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/estrategist.com\/members\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/estrategist.com\/members\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/estrategist.com\/members\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=309"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/estrategist.com\/members\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/309\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/estrategist.com\/members\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=309"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/estrategist.com\/members\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=309"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/estrategist.com\/members\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=309"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}