News Coverage
Bill to Phase Out Chemical Fire Retardants Goes to Davis
Published July 23, 2003
SACRAMENTO -A bill making California the nation's first state to ban two chemical fire retardants known to accumulate in the blood of young mothers and babies cleared its final legislative hurdle Thursday and went to Gov. Gray Davis for consideration.
Davis has taken no position on the bill, but environmental officials in the administration have expressed support for banning the chemicals.
The bill bans sales, manufacturing or distribution of the chemicals, commonly used to coat furniture, electronics, plastic and foam products, beginning in 2008. Backers say a ban in California will force chemical companies to find alternatives nationally.
A similar ban in Europe begins next summer.
Thursday, the state Assembly agreed to changes made in the bill by the Senate and sent it to Davis. Numerous Republicans continued their opposition, casting doubts on the science used by the bill's environmentalist sponsors. The two chemicals, known as PBDE's, for polybrominated diphenyl ethers, are considered among the most effective methods to slow flames.
But studies by the Environmental Working Group based in Washington, D.C., reported rapidly rising levels of PBDEs in fish in San Francisco Bay. The study, comparing fish caught last fall with similar fish in 1997, reported levels more than doubled in halibut and three times higher in striped bass, the two most commonly eaten Bay fish.