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‘Killer Cribs’ Study Finds Toxics in California Baby Products and Furniture: Leno Bill Banning Halogenated Fire Retardants Hailed As Solution

Russell-Long.jpg By Russell Long
Vice President
Friends of the Earth


Our new report called Killer Cribs, released today, documents the tragic spread of two classes of fire retardants – known as halogenated fire retardants – into products used by the youngest members of our society – babies and children.

The report shows that 31 percent of baby products such as portable cribs, car seats, nursing pillows, strollers, baby back packs, and infant chairs contain dangerous levels of toxic fire retardants, exposing babies and small children to chemicals that can make them sick.

In hundreds of studies, these fire retardants have been linked to serious health disorders like cancer, birth defects, hormone disruption, brain and reproductive disorders, and learning disabilities such as ADHD. Today, almost every baby and child has these toxic fire retardants in their bodies. Babies have the highest levels because they sleep up to 16 hours a day in cribs or playpens contaminated with fire retardants, and they are especially vulnerable because at these young ages, their brains and reproductive organs are developing so quickly.

The fact is this -- We are poisoning our children, one crib, one stroller, and one nursing pillow at a time. We are exposing the most vulnerable in our society – the little people who will one day replace us – to chemicals that can alter their brains and their ability to successfully pass on our genes. Given what we know about these toxic fire retardants, and to disturbing signs that their effects may already be showing up in society, this is beyond foolish. It is also starkly reminiscent of other public health disasters with other fire retardant chemicals, such as asbestos or PCBs which caused so many deaths and so much needless suffering.

Fortunately, Assemblyman Leno has a bill, AB 706, just two votes away from Governor Schwarzenegger’s desk, and if it passes and is signed, this problem will end for California and the nation.

A little history is in order. This problem starts with California, which for 30 years has had an outdated fire-safety test promoting the use of fire retardants in baby products and home furniture. Since manufacturers across America don’t want two sets of inventory – one for California and another one for the other 49 states – more and more of them have been adding these toxic fire retardants to all of their products.

And the result? California has three to eight times the concentrations of these dangerous fire retardants in our household dust compared to the rest of the U.S., and U.S. concentrations as a whole are on average, ten times higher than in the European Union. And dust is mainly where humans are getting exposed – mostly just not-so-plain-old household dust which emerges from these products through ongoing use. And babies, with the highest levels, ingest them through hand-to-mouth contact or through inhaling them.

Halogenated fire retardants are also turning up throughout the environment, from birds of prey, to harbor seals in San Francisco Bay, to the entire global food web. The levels are high enough that they can now be detected in the foods that we buy off grocery shelves, particularly fish, dairy, and meat products. It’s like the little recycling logo on our cereal boxes – only it’s not the good recycling – it’s the bad kind where every product we throw away with fire retardants in it is sneaking back into our lunch and dinner. Just a little bit at a time, but enough to add to the already high intake that we receive directly from the dust in our houses. So you can see the problem we’re facing is enormous.

Yesterday, along with our colleague groups MOMS and Momsrising.org, we contacted one of the largest and most popular makers of baby products, Graco Corporation, of Illinois, requesting that they take immediate steps to end the use of halogenated fire retardants in all of their products. A number of their products failed our tests, some by quite a large margin. We will also be asking a number of other baby product makers to end their use of these toxic chemicals.

But while voluntary actions like this are helpful, there is no substitute for strong legally enforceable actions by the State of California. We're counting on Governor Schwarzenegger and the legislature to pass this vitally important law.

Russell Long is Vice President of Friends of the Earth. In 2001, Mother Jones magazine named him a "Hellraiser." Long has served on various state, regional, and local advisory boards regulating oil spills, water conservation, and marine transportation in California. He holds a bachelor’s degree from Harvard, a Master's of Business Administration from Columbia University, and a Doctorate in Ecology and Development from the California Institute of Integral Studies.

Posted on May 20, 2008

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