Non-halogenated Flame Retardant Handbook. Группа авторов

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СКАЧАТЬ separately from the chemical safety assessment of flame retardants which might be used. Reducing fire safety requirements to get rid of “unwanted” FRs is the wrong approach, as one should rather restrict the use of any problematic chemicals directly and promote the use of safer alternatives (see detailed discussion below).

1.3 Current Regulations

      As previously discussed, regulations are often reactive based upon past historical events in a particular location where local or national fire events drive new requirements to prevent a particular fire event from happening again. Likewise, local cultural uses of building products, building styles, and operating of technology may drive particular fire safety requirements, especially if there are local population density issues, or environmental effects (earthquakes, wildfires) that may drive fire safety requirements in one direction or another. Therefore, regulations are be best discussed at the national and regional level.

      1.3.1 International – United Nations

      Legacy halogenated flame retardants have meanwhile been restricted under the United Nations Persistent Organic Pollutants (POP) convention: HBCD, PBDEs including DecaBDE, and short-chain chlorinated paraffins (SCCP) [43].

1.3.2 United States (Federal vs. State)

      In the United States (US), federal government regulations overrule state regulations. However, if there is no specific federal regulation on a particular topic or chemical, then state regulations apply. This can mean that a product sold in the US could have to meet 50 different state regulations if they are different. Currently, most chemicals are regulated by the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA, 1976) which was “updated” by the Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety Act for the 21st Century in 2016. Under TSCA, only very few chemicals were banned and it generally took many years. Regarding flame retardant chemicals, there have been voluntary phase outs of brominated diphenyl ethers in the US due to rulemaking and agreements with the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and some scrutiny of hexabromocyclododecane (HBCD), [44–49]. The US EPA set up a workplan on flame retardants already in 2012 but with slow progress. In March 2019 they concluded TCEP, TBBPA and TPP as “high priority substance” candidates for risk assessments.

      In addition to these regulatory workstreams, from 2005 to 2015, the US EPA did run a serious of extensive Design for Environment (DfE) projects which evaluated alternatives to the legacy brominated flame retardants pentabromo- and decabromo diphenylether, hexabromocyclo dodecane and tetrabromo bisphenol-A [50]. The conclusion was that often halogen free alternatives exist with a better environmental and health profile. Furthermore, in 2017 the US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) voted to initiate rulemaking based on a petition to protect consumers from “toxic” flame retardant chemicals commonly referred to as organohalogens (OFRs), under the Federal Hazardous Substances Act [51]. The initiative refers to children’s products, furniture, mattresses, and electronic device casings. CPSC further advised setting up a Chronic Hazard Advisory Panel to further study the effects of OFRs as a class of chemicals on consumers’ health. The petition lists 24 organohalogens including decabromodiphenyl ether and several chlorinated phosphate esters, believed to be toxic, that tend to migrate out of products, and can bioaccumulate.

At the state level however, there has been a lot of regulatory movement to ban flame retardant chemicals by broad chemical class, rather than by specific molecule. Most of the bans are focused around keeping flame retardant chemicals out of mattresses and furniture, but some bans on manufacture and use of flame retardant chemicals are broader in scope than just furniture and mattresses. The wide range of state regulations is far too much to cover in this chapter, and a reasonable summary of each rule with links to each state law is available online [52]. That being said, the emphasis of most state laws is to ban flame retardants by class (halogen, phosphorus, nitrogen, etc.) in specific consumer products (mostly furniture and mattresses) rather than by specific chemistry. If TSCA change does occur which lists particular flame retardants as safe/not safe to use, that TSCA change would overrule all of the individual state laws. Otherwise, it is highly recommended that material scientists work with their respective regulatory experts if they are planning on using any flame retardant chemical for products in the US, whether halogenated or not. As of the writing of this chapter, the situation is still very uncertain how these state laws will move forward, or if they will get challenged and found to be unworkable by generating broad bans of chemical classes vs. specific negative PBT profile chemicals.

      1.3.3 Canada

      Chemical regulation in Canada is governed by the Canadian Environmental Protection Act (CEPA) [53] as well as new substances/existing substance under its Chemical Management Plan. Flame retardant chemicals which are regulated under this law include brominated diphenyl ethers (BDPEs), hexabromocyclododecane (HBCD), and tetrabromobisphenol A. As per the law, new chemicals are investigated and added to the regulatory list as PBT data becomes available. Similar to laws in the US, known brominated flame retardants with known negative PBT profiles are banned from use and import into Canada. In 2019 Environment Canada stated that decebromo diphenylethane (DBDPE) may contribute to the formation of persistent, bioaccumulative, and inherently toxic transformation products, such as lower brominated BDPEs, in the environment. A ban on the manufacture, sale or import of the brominated FR DBDPE has been proposed (pending as of 2021-03). This is remarkable in so far as DBDPE has often been cited as an example of regrettable substitution, where a regulated substance (decabromodiphenylether, DBDE) is replaced by industry with a molecule that is just slightly modified, so evading the regulatory restriction whilst still having similar environmental properties.

      1.3.4 European Union

The European Union (EU) has been at the forefront of chemical regulation for chemicals used in commerce. Relevant to flame retardant use, the Restriction of Hazardous Substances in Electrical and Electronic Equipment (RoHS) [4, 5] and Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) [6, 7] laws have forced out the legacy brominated flame retardants PBDEs and PBBs from use. The newest chemical regulation which governs all chemicals, including non-halogenated, is the Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) [54]. REACH introduced the concept of Substances of Very High Concern (SVHC), based on PBT and CMR (carcinogenic, mutagenic and reprotoxic) properties. SVHC are supposed to be phased out and substituted unless there is authorization for specific uses. The following flame retardants are identified as SVHC or on the candidate list (as of 2021-03): Penta-, Octa- and DecaBDE, HBCD, Short chain chlorinated paraffins, Tris(2-chloroethyl) phosphate, Boric acid (toxic for reproduction) and Trixylyl phosphate. Since 2021, manufacturers of finished articles have to provide information on SVHCs in their products in a public database (SCIP, substances of concern in products) maintained by the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA).

      Because commerce is global, REACH will likely affect flame retardant use in multiple countries, especially those which import to the EU, and export or manufacture within the EU. It is highly likely that as flame retardant chemicals with negative PBT profiles are found they will be banned or regulated under REACH, and this guidance will likely lead to other countries following suit for their own regulations. It is important to note here that the EU, as of the writing of this chapter, does have harmonized regulations across EU member states, but, there is some disagreement and discord between member states where a particular member state would want stricter or lesser regulation on chemicals. There is a long and deliberate mechanism in place in the EU to resolve these disputes, but the disputes can take years to address. Of final note, the United Kingdom has left the EU, but is still sorting out its regulations and commercial connections and collaborations with the EU. How UK independence will affect regulation of flame retardant chemicals in that country is not clear at this time.

      1.3.5 Asia

      There are many sovereign countries in Asia СКАЧАТЬ