Toxic Chemicals Found in Baby Products

Posted on May 19, 2011

A study of products designed for newborns, babies, and toddlers – including car seats, breast feeding pillows, changing pads, crib wedges, bassinet mattresses and other items made with polyurethane foam – found that 80% of products tested contained chemical flame retardants that are considered toxic, according to a peer-reviewed study published in Environmental Science & Technology Journal.  Other retardants discovered had so little health and safety data on them it is not possible to know their effects at this time. The same flame retardants found in some of the products are also found in children’s bodies and widely dispersed throughout the environment and in food.

The new study analyzed 101 products for the presence of halogenated flame retardants.  Interior foam samples were tested from nursing pillows, baby carriers, car seats, changing table pads, high chairs, strollers, bassinets, portable cribs, walkers, changing pads, baby carriers, sleeping wedges, baby tub insert, bath slings, glider rockers, and other essential child care items. Samples were submitted from purchase locations around the United States, including four from New York State.

Study results:

• Four products contained penta-BDE, a substance so toxic it is banned in 172 countries and 12 U.S. states, and subject to a national phase-out.
• 29 products contained TDCPP, or chlorinated Tris, a possible human carcinogen that was removed from children’s pajamas over health concerns in the late 1970s. In animal studies chlorinated Tris has been associated with cancer of the liver, kidney, brain and testis, among other harmful effects. One such product came from New York.
• 14 products contained TCEP, a carcinogenic flame retardant on California’s Proposition 65 list of cancer-causing chemicals. Laboratory animal studies show TCEP: causes tumors in the kidney and thyroid glands; causes reductions in fertility and poor sperm quality; and interferes with brain signaling, causing hyperactivity.  TCEP is no longer produced in Europe and has been identified by Canada as posing a risk to human health.
• 16 products contained Firemaster 550/600 flame retardants. EPA has predicted toxicity and required additional testing. Two of these products came from New York.
• 14 products contained TCPP, which is similar in chemical structure to Chlorinated Tris and TCEP and has limited health information.

“Toxic or untested flame retardants like the ones found in this study can migrate out of products and end up in our homes and our bodies.  These chemicals are associated with adverse human health effects including reduced IQ, increased time to pregnancy, endocrine and thyroid disruption, and impaired child development,” said Arlene Blum, PhD, a co-author of the study and executive director of the Green Science Policy Institute. Blum’s early research contributed to the removal of Tris flame retardants from children’s pajamas in the 1970’s. “I was surprised to find Tris back in high levels in the foam in baby products,” she added.

“As an environmental-health conscious mother of two young girls, I was deeply troubled when I learned three of the four product samples I submitted for testing had dangerous or inadequately tested flame retardants,” said Bobbi Chase Wilding, Organizing Director for Clean New York and mother to a toddler and kindergartener.  Her family’s primary car seat, booster seat, and high chair cover all contained flame retardants of concern. “I have yet to figure out why my children’s high chair or nursing pillow would be the source of a fire, and need chemical flame retardants. It shouldn’t be a choice of protecting your child from injury or protecting them from toxics.”

“It’s an outrage that chemicals removed from infant sleepwear because of cancer concerns are back in a much wider range of infant products.  A thousand children in New York State are diagnosed with cancer each year – nearly 300 of whom are under the age of four.  Surely we owe it to them to keep innocent babies out of harm’s way,” said Christine Brouwer, Founder and Executive Director of Mira’s Movement, a pediatric cancer support and advocacy organization, as she held her youngest daughter, Korrine.  The Brouwer family lost their middle child, Mira, to brain cancer that was diagnosed when she was just 23 months old.  “By making products with safer chemicals, everyone has a chance at a healthier life.”

“Flame retardants made with chlorine or bromine, including those found in baby products in this study, have been linked with a number of neurological problems. The dramatic rates of learning and neurological disabilities result in personal tragedies, significant health care costs – upwards of $5.4 billion nationally, based on one recent study – and increased burdens on the educational system, justice system and social safety net programs,” said Stephen Boese, Executive Director of the Learning Disabilities Association of New York State. “We can prevent some of these cases by simply being smarter about the chemicals we use.  The real question is, why aren’t we?  Leadership is desperately needed in the halls of government and marketplace.” 

“There are businesses that are primed and ready to make the new products people are demanding; products that use green chemistry and are safer for consumers,” said David Levine, Executive Director of the American Sustainable Business Council.  “It’s just good business sense to make healthy, sustainable products that don’t expose workers and customers, that protect a company’s brand name and its shareholders, and that enable sustainable product makers to favorably differentiate themselves from companies that make products using toxic chemicals,” Levine added.

In New York, several pieces of legislation have been proposed that would require safer alternatives to certain toxic flame retardants, including decaBDE (S. 3311, A. 5798) and chlorinated tris (S. 4085/A6195).  Chlorinated tris is also named in a broader piece of legislation, the Child-Safe Products Act (S. 1526/A. 3141) that aims to address toxics in children’s products more broadly. The NYS Assembly has already passed nearly unanimously the phase-out of decaBDE, and both the Child-Safe Products Act and restriction on chlorinated tris are pending in the Codes committee.

“This study highlights the need for action in order to prevent children and infants from being exposed to toxic chemicals.  While we need to protect our children from fire, we cannot protect our children by exposing them to these toxic chemicals.  The industry needs to take ownership over their products, and do what is right and remove toxins from their products,” said Senator Mark Grisanti, Chair of the Environmental Conservation Committee.

“The information in this study shows that New York needs to continue to play a leadership role in protecting children from toxic chemicals. I'm proud to be the sponsor of the deca phase-out, which passed the Assembly as part of our Earth Day package. Additionally, I am sponsoring legislation to remove chlorinated tris from children’s products and working to pass the broader Child-Safe Products Act. Both of these bills have been favorably reported from the Assembly Environmental Conservation Committee. The Legislature can accomplish meaningful protections for children in the remaining weeks of session,” said Assemblyman Robert Sweeney, Chair, NYS Assembly Environmental Conservation Committee.

“New York banned two toxic flame retardants in 2004, and product makers did an end run around the legislative intent by simply swapping in similar chemicals.  We applaud Senator Grisanti and Assemblyman Sweeney for being leaders and continuing to help ensure fewer toxic chemicals are in products children count on.  We call on product makers to heed the intent of existing laws and make safer, healthier products for our youngest and most vulnerable members of society,” said Kathy Curtis, Policy Director of Clean New York.

The Alliance for Toxic-Free Fire Safety, a new national network of health, consumer, and environmental groups, is calling for common-sense approaches to fire safety that don’t threaten public health in other critical ways.  They point to an antiquated California regulation, Technical Bulletin 117 (TB 117), as the reason for widespread use of flame retardants in baby products. Many product manufacturers make only one set of products, and add hazardous flame retardants, so that they can be sold in California. Findings in the new article underscore this: samples from around the country carried the TB 117 label. This results in population-wide exposure to dangerous, unnecessary flame retardants. 

 “There are sensible ways to prevent fires that do not subject the entire population to an indoor air experiment with carcinogens and other toxics,” saidRuss Haven, Legislative Counsel for New York Public Interest Research Group. “Companies should make products without flame retardants for all of the other states that haven’t adopted California’s costly and outdated TB 117 rule. Research shows the addition of flame retardants to meet this standard doesn’t prevent fires. Moreover, when products with these chemicals do burn, they make the smoke far more toxic. Product makers should switch to inherently flame-resistant materials, make design changes or use less toxic chemical ingredients so fire fighters and victims of fire are better protected when these materials burn.”   

The fire safety benefits of adding flame retardants to meet the TB117 flammability standard are questionable.  According to Vyto Babrauskas, the author of Fire Behavior of Upholstered Furniture and Mattresses, (William Andrew Publishing, Norwich NY 2001), the only textbook ever written on furniture flammability, TB117 is “so weak that it does not achieve any useful fire safety purpose."  TB117 tests bare foam’s resistance to a small flame.  But the foam in furniture lies beneath a layer of fabric.  The fabric will ignite first and by the time the flame reaches the foam, it is too large for the chemicals that meet TB117 to have an effect.

According to Environmental Health News, researchers have found that U.S. adults have 20 times more of the flame retardant chemicals in their bodies than Europeans. The Centers for Disease Control & Prevention report that over 90% of the U.S. population carries PBDE flame retardants in their bodies.

Alternatives to these toxic and untested flame retardant chemicals include using less flammable materials, design changes, and safer chemicals. Stronger electrical codes and modernized building and fire codes, as well as increased use of smoke detectors, sprinkler systems, and self-extinguishing cigarettes, will all continue to help prevent fires without using toxic chemicals.  These measures, plus an overall decrease in cigarette smoking in the U.S. have helped reduce fire deaths by 60% since 1980, making increasing use of chemical flame retardants unwise and unnecessary.

Want to learn more about flame retardants in our bodies, products, and homes?  Check out the Alliance for Toxic-Free Fire Safety.