BILL ANALYSIS
SB 772
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Date of Hearing: July 7, 2009
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON BUSINESS AND PROFESSIONS
Mary Hayashi, Chair
SB 772 (Leno) - As Amended: May 5, 2009
SENATE VOTE : 23-14
SUBJECT : Home furnishings: juvenile products.
SUMMARY : Exempts juvenile products, as defined, from fire
retardant requirements and regulations unless the Bureau of Home
Furnishings and Thermal Insulation (BHFTI) determines that a
serious fire hazard exists. Specifically, this bill :
1)Defines "juvenile products" as any item of bedding or seating
furniture with a primary intended use for children six years
old or younger. The term includes, but is not limited to,
portable cribs, car seats, strollers, bassinets, infant
carriers, walkers, backpack child carriers, infant and toddler
pillows, and toddler chairs.
2)Authorizes BHFTI to modify the exemption by regulation if it
determines that any juvenile product poses a serious fire
hazard.
3)Provides that the exemption does not apply to products
regulated by federal law.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Requires all mattresses and mattress sets manufactured for
sale in this state to be fire retardant.
2)Defines "fire retardant" as a product that meets the standards
for resistance to an open flame test adopted by the United
States Consumer Product Safety Commission (CSPC) and set forth
in federal regulations.
3)Authorizes the BHFTI to adopt regulations it deems necessary
to implement these fire retardant standards.
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4)Requires all other bedding products that BHFTI determines
contribute to mattress bedding fires to comply with BHFTI
regulations specifying that those products be resistant to
open flame ignition.
5)Requires all seating furniture sold or offered for sale by an
importer, manufacturer, or wholesaler for use in this state,
and reupholstered furniture to which filling materials are
added, to be fire retardant and labeled as such. Exempts
physical fitness and exercise equipment from this requirement.
6)Prohibits a person from manufacturing, processing, or
distributing in commerce a product containing more than 0.1%
penta brominated diphenyl ether (pentaBDE) or octa brominated
diphenyl ether (octaBDE), both of which are flame retardant
chemicals.
7)Authorizes, under the Federal Hazardous Substances Act (FHSA),
the CPSC to regulate hazards to children.
8)Authorizes, under the Flammable Fabrics Act, the CPSC to
regulate fire risks associated with interior furnishings.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS :
Purpose of the bill . According to the author's office, "In
California, toxic chemicals are being used on infant and
juvenile products to defend against a fire risk that doesn't
exist. It's time for that to change. California needs to
permit manufacturers to remove these toxins from products that
infants and young children come into repeated and intimate
contact with on a daily basis?
"The California home furnishing flammability requirement known
as Technical Bulletin 117 (TB 117) has led to the annual use of
millions of pounds of fire retardant chemicals in California
since the early 1980's. Halogenated fire retardants - the least
expensive and most likely chemicals used to meet this regulation
- have been linked to endocrine disruption, neurological and
developmental impairments, cancer, birth defects, learning
disabilities such as attention deficit disorder and
hyperactivity, and a host of other health disorders. These
toxic chemicals migrate from products in the home into household
dust, humans, pets, and the environment. A typical household
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can contain up to several pounds of these chemicals, and their
extensive use to meet TB 117 has led to contamination of the
global environment?
"Today, virtually every Californian tested has been found to
have fire retardants chemicals stored in their bodies, with
babies and young children showing the highest "body burdens"?
Juvenile products are treated with these toxins in order to meet
the standards required under TB 117, despite no credible
scientific documentation showing that they represent a fire
risk?"
Background . BHFTI enforces the Home Furnishings and Thermal
Insulation Act (Act), which protects consumers of upholstered
furniture, bedding, and thermal insulation. BHFTI licenses and
inspects businesses that manufacture and sell upholstered
furniture, bedding, and thermal insulation. BHFTI also enforces
health and safety standards and the current federal flammability
law for consumer bedding that requires mattresses, futons and
mattress pads to resist ignition when exposed to smoldering
cigarettes.
In California, mattresses, mattress sets, bedding products and
upholstered furniture manufactured or sold in the state is
required to meet flammability standards specified in TB 117 and
to withstand ignition if exposed to an open flame for 12
seconds. This requirement has resulted in the extensive use of
additive chemical flame retardants in furniture sold in
California for over 25 years. To avoid the expense of creating
a separate product line for California and to voluntarily comply
with the most stringent flammability requirements in the U.S.,
many large manufacturers and distributors of furniture or
furniture components add flame retardant chemicals to their
products sold in other states as well.
TB 117 has resulted in the extensive use of brominated and
chlorinated organic chemical compounds (BFRs and CFRs). BFRs
are chemicals that reduce the spread of fire in a variety of
common products such as electronic casings, polyurethane foam,
and commercial textiles. These chemicals escape into the
environment during manufacture, use, and disposal of products
containing this flame retardant. Many brominated and
chlorinated compounds have been shown to persist in the
environment and have been associated with adverse health effects
including cancer, reproductive and developmental toxicity,
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neurological dysfunction and endocrine disruption.
According to a report provided by the sponsor, Friends of the
Earth, children ingest halogenated fire retardants from breast
milk, hand-to-mouth contract, or inhalation of household dust.
Toddlers are at high risk for exposure to halogenated fire
retardants since they spend much of their time playing on the
floor, where chemicals-laden dust tends to accumulate.
Measurements taken from baby products indicated high levels of
halogenated fire retardants in 31% of products. High levels
were found in portable cribs, playpens, car seats, strollers,
nursing pillows, infant carriers, bassinets, walkers, backpack
carriers, toddler pillows, and chairs.
The use of flame retardant chemicals in juvenile furniture does
not appear to actually increase public safety. In a response to
the author's request for information on fire risks associated
with children's furnishings and other juvenile products
containing polyurethane foam, in October 2008, the CPSC
responded, "The CPSC can regulate specific products if it
determines that the products pose an unreasonable risk of death
or injury under foreseeable conditions of use. To date, the
CPSC has not made such a determination with respect to the risk
of fire of most of the juvenile products [in the bill]? A
review of the available consumer product-related fire injury
data from the Commission's National Electronic Injury
Surveillance System for 2000 - 2008 does not identify any
incidents in which a stroller, infant carrier, bassinet or
nursing pillow first ignited."
Additionally, according to a 2006 study by the National Fire
Protection Association, the rate of reduction of fire deaths in
California over the last 20 years, during which halogenated fire
retardants were used heavily in furniture, is statistically
similar to other states that did not have furniture flammability
standards.
BHFTI is considering extending flammability requirements to
include filled bed clothing, such as pillows, mattress pads and
comforters, in a new guideline, Technical Bulletin 604 (TB 604).
Several legislators submitted a letter dated April 8, 2009 to
the Governor requesting that TB 604 be suspended and that a
multi-agency task force be convened to evaluate current fire
safety standards in light of reported health and environmental
hazards posed by toxic flame retardant chemicals and materials.
Other requests included ensuring that development and
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promulgation of TB 604 does not add further toxic flame
retardant chemicals or materials to California households and
ensuring that fire safety requirements, current and future, are
in keeping with the goals of the California Green Chemistry
Initiative.
Prior legislation has attempted to prohibit the manufacture, use
and sale of specified flame retardant chemicals that are linked
to negative public health impacts. The author has taken a new
approach this year to limiting children's exposure to
potentially harmful flame retardants. Rather than propose a
chemical ban, the author instead proposes exempting certain
children's products, unless they pose a fire hazard, from state
flammability standards. This approach does not explicitly
restrict or prohibit the use of any flame retardant chemicals in
juvenile products, but it does eliminate a manufacturer's need
to use them. It also eliminates the concern that manufacturers,
if prohibited from using a certain chemical but still required
to adhere to flammability standards, might substitute a
regrettable alternative for the banned chemical.
Arguments in support . According to the sponsor, "This
legislation will end the requirement that juvenile products
contact toxic fire retardant chemicals, unless BHFTI determines
that such products represent a fire risk?Prohibiting the use of
these chemicals in baby products will protect the health of our
children, the general public, and the environment."
According to Sierra Club California, "California has seen a 38%
reduction in fire-related deaths from 1980-1999, but other
states have had an even greater decline in deaths without
adopting [flame retardant] standards that lead to the use of
toxic chemicals. Babies are born with fire retardants in their
system because it can be transmitted through the placenta and
through breast milk. Children are further introduced to these
chemicals through regular contact with car seats, pillows, and
strollers, and have higher concentrations of these chemicals in
their systems. The health impacts are unknown on humans, and
children are being exposed to these harmful chemicals that have
not proven to be effective."
Arguments in opposition . According to the California Chamber of
Commerce, the California Manufacturers Technology Association,
and other organizations, "This proposal is based on fears about
the potential human health effects of exposure to fire
retardants, even though there is no peer-reviewed empirical data
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supporting these fears. In effect, this bill prioritizes such
theoretical health risks above the very real risks of injury and
death that flame retarded products seek to prevent? The Green
Chemistry legislation enacted last year will ensure that any
health risks posed by fire retardant chemicals are clearly
identified and appropriately regulated." The California Black
Chamber of Commerce Foundation writes, "California's fire safety
standards have caused fire-related injuries and deaths to
decline by more than 64 percent in recent years. We cannot
abdicate these standards and leave the most vulnerable at the
most risk."
Prior Legislation . AB 706 (Leno) of 2008 would have required
bedding products to comply with certain requirements, including
not containing a chemical that doesn't comply with alternatives
assessment requirements, as specified. Required the Department
of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) to develop and adopt
methodology an alternative assessment to review the classes of
chemicals used to meet BHFTI fire retardant standards. This
bill failed passage on the Senate Floor.
AB 1879 (Feuer), Chapter 559, Statutes of 2008, requires DTSC to
develop, in regulation, processes by which chemicals of concern
and their alternatives are identified and assessed, and methods
of reducing exposure are established.
SB 509 (Simitian), Chapter 560, Statutes of 2008, requires DTSC
to establish a Toxics Information Clearinghouse for the
collection, maintenance, and distribution of specified chemical
information.
AB 513 (Leiber) of 2007 would have extended the prohibition on
pentaBDE or octaBDE to include decabromodiphenyl ether, in
electronic products. This measure failed passage on the
Assembly floor.
AB 302 (Chan) Chapter 205, Statutes of 2003, bans the use of
pentaBDE or octaBDE after January 1, 2008.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
Friends of the Earth (sponsor)
As You Sow Foundation
Breast Cancer Fund
California Professional Firefighters
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Center for Biological Diversity
Center for Environmental Health
Clean Water Action
Commonweal
Consumer Federation of California (CFC)
Contra Costa Health Services
Environmental Working Group
Environment California
Healthy African American Families II
Healthy Child Healthy World
Juvenile Products Manufacturers Association (JPMA)
Making Our Milk Safe
MomsRising.org
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
(NAACP)
Natural Resources Defense Council
Ocean Conservancy
Planning and Conservation League
San Francisco Firefighters Cancer
Santa Barbara Channelkeeper
Sierra Club California
Stentorians of Los Angeles County
The Baum Foundation
The Humane Society
The Trauma Foundation
Opposition
American Chemistry Council
California Building Industry Association
California Chamber of Commerce
California Black Chamber of Commerce Foundation
California Business Properties Association
California Manufacturers Technology Association
California Retailers Association
Chemical Industry Council of California
Citizens for Fire Safety
Green Chemistry Alliance (alert)
Kern County Taxpayers Association
National Tax Limitation Committee
Orange County Professional Firefighters Association
San Joaquin County Hispanic Chamber of Commerce
The Thursday Group (alert)
Numerous individuals
Analysis Prepared by : Joanna Gin / B. & P. / (916) 319-3301
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