HFPA urges California to revise flammability standards

By Staff -- Home Textiles Today, 12/8/2006 10:23:00 AM

New York – The Home Fashion Products Association (HFPA) is concerned that the proposed California product flammability standards will require its members to treat bedding fill with toxic chemicals. The California standards are likely to set the stage for national regulations.

California is in the testing phase of a flammability standard for bedding. The standard, known as TB 604, does not contain any prohibitions against the use of toxic chemicals and does not require a toxicity study, according to the HFPA.

The dangers of treating bedding with chlorinated and brominated hydrocarbons, such as those which are currently being used to treat the foam inside furniture sold in California, were the subject of a recent opinion column in The New York Times, written by recognized biophysical authority Arlene Blum. In 1977, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission banned these very chemicals from being used as flame retardants in children’s sleepwear when they were found to cause cancer. According to Blum, such chemicals tend to accumulate in people, animals and the environment and cause a host of health problems.

HFPA has contacted the California Bureau of Home Furnishings and Thermal Insulation and Governor Schwarzenegger to register the concern of its members over this issue. Dianne Morris, president of the HFPA, said, “We are sure that the state of California does not want to mandate the sale of dangerous products and that they will take our concerns under advisement.”

For further information on this issue, please contact HFPA executive director Carolynn Jennings at (212) 297-2122.