Flame-retardant ruling angers environmentalists

By Karen Carstens

Date: 03/06/04

A FORMAL investigation into the controversial brominated flame-retardant deca-BDE has been called off by EU risk assessors, albeit with the proviso that regulators might revisit the substance in the future.

National chemicals experts at a recent meeting in Dublin closed both the environment and the human health chapters of deca's EU risk assessment. They concluded that no extra legislative controls were needed after manufacturers pledged to achieve voluntary emission reductions.

But the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) blasted the UK, the rapporteur country in the process, for "colouring" the outcome of the meeting in the Irish capital. The UK had recommended no further action against deca, citing a legal opinion that precautionary action was not justified due to a lack of identified hazards or risk.

British WWF campaigners claimed the UK was "hiding behind a bogus legal opinion".

But the European Brominated Flame Retardant Industry Panel said that a decade of assessment had not identified a risk and called for a ban on deca in EU electronics manufacture to be reversed.

The flame retardant is used in plastic housings, as well as furniture textiles.

Sweden, Denmark and the Netherlands reportedly pushed for stronger controls at the Dublin meeting.

WWF European Policy Office: WWF’s submission on Deca Brominated Diphenyl Ether (DECA-BDE) for a meeting of the competent authorities of the Member States held under the Irish Presidency http://awsassets.panda.org/downloads/wwfdecacainputmay2004final.doc

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