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 regulations is increasing restrictions on the use of toxic FRs.
Want to play “whack-a-chemical”? Ban one chemical and another equally toxic one pops up? FRs exemplify the problem of regulating on a chemical-by-chemical basis as manufacturers replace one generation of known toxic FRs with another generation of lesser known chemistries. Brominated flame retardants (BFRs) in plastic electronic enclosures exemplify the “whack-a-chemical” approach. In the 1970s, PBBs (polybrominated biphenyls) were the FR of choice in electronic products. PBBs were phased out and replaced with PBDEs (polybrominated diphenyl ethers), particularly decaBDE, which dominated electronic enclosures until the 2000s. With RoHS restricting PBDEs in the 2000s, manufacturers of plastic electronic enclosures are now using a variety of FRs, some of which are now being restricted including HBCD (hexabromocyclododecane).
Snapshot of Flame Retardant Restrictions
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Regulation of Flame Retardants |
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Regulatory Action |
BFRs |
CFRs |
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Global elimination: no longer manufactured or used |
- PBBs |
- Pentachlorobenzene |
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European phase-out |
- HBCD (2015) |
- TCEP (2015) |
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European, U.S. (national), and/or U.S. (states): restriction of some uses |
- decaBDE (electronics, shipping pallets, mattresses, upholstered furniture) |
- TCEP and TDCPP in children's products and/or furniture (Maryland, New York, & Vermont) |
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No restrictions |
TBBPA |
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Abbreviations: |
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Restriction Details
PBBs and all the PBDEs with the exception of decaBDE are no longer manufactured and used globally (or so it seems).
The international Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) seeks to eliminate the production and use of the worst in class FRs: pentachlorobenzene, the PBDEs (tetra-, penta-, hexa-, hepta-, and octa-BDE), and HBCD as of November 2014. Another FR under review by the POPS Review Committee is decaBDE. Note that the U.S. Government has not ratified the Stockholm Convention.
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The RoHS Directive restricted PBBs, and penta- and octa-BDE in 2004 and decaBDE in 2008 in electronic products.
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The REACH regulation will restrict two more FRs by 2015: HBCD and TCEP.
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The 24th amendment to the marketing and use directive 76/769/EEC banned penta- and octa-BDE in all applications for the EU market beginning in 2004.
In the U.S., the combination of manufacturers voluntarily agreeing to cease production and import and the EPA’s Significant New Use Rule in 2006 ended the production and import of penta- and octa-BDE. California, Hawaii, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington all banned various uses of penta- and octa-BDE. A subset of these states—Maine, Maryland, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington—also banned various uses of decaBDE including in electronics, mattresses, upholstered furniture, and shipping pallets.
In the 1970s, U.S. manufacturers voluntarily withdrew the chlorinated flame retardant (CFR), chlorinated tris (TDCPP), from children’s pajamas due its mutagenic properties. More recently, Maryland, New York, and Vermont restricted TCEP and TDCPP in children’s products and/or furniture.
See SaferStates and Interstate Chemicals Clearinghouse for a summary of all state-based FR legislation.