Top Four Reasons to Vote Yes on ESHB 1024 Now!

Please oppose any amendments!

1.  Protects children’s health.  Right now children are exposed to PBDEs in the womb, crawling around in PBDE-contaminated dust, and eating them with their first food.  Studies suggest young children receive up to 300 times greater exposure to toxic flame retardants than adults.

learn more about health impacts of PBDEs >

2.  Ensures fire protection is not compromised. The bill requires a fire safety committee made up of state fire experts to approve alternatives to PBDEs before any ban becomes effective.  According to a new report on PBDE alternatives by the Maine Department of Environmental Protection and the Maine Center for Disease Control & Prevention, no current use of deca “was identified in which the use of alternatives requires a compromise in fire safety."

learn more about fire safety without poisons >

3.  Safer alternatives to deca already are available.  Major electronic manufacturers, including Sony, Philips, Dell, and HP, currently meet fire safety standards without using PBDEs.  The Maine report concluded that RDP, an alternative to decaBDE for televisions, “presents a significantly lower threat to the environment and human health than decaBDE.”  For mattresses and furniture, numerous PBDE-free chemical and non-chemical alternatives exist that allow manufacturers to meet stringent fire safety standards.  The Maine report concluded that for upholstery, “alternatives that do not require the use of chemical flame retardants already are widely employed in the marketplace.”

see the PBDE bill timeline for deca alternatives assessment and ban >

learn about companies using safer alternatives >

4. Science on the dangers posed by PBDEs continues to build.  Recent research has revealed levels of PBDEs are rapidly rising in people, Puget Sound wildlife, and Spokane River fish.

learn more about PBDEs in our bodies and our environment >

Download these reasons in a fact sheet (400 kb pdf file)

Excerpts from Brominated Flame Retardants: Third annual report to the Maine Legislature, January 2007, by the Maine Department of Environmental Protection and the Maine Center for Disease Control & Prevention. 
Online at http://www.maine.gov/dep/rwm/publications/legislativereports/index.htm