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Furniture Flame Retardancy Partnership Milestones

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Furniture Flame Retardancy Partnership Milestones and Notable Events
(The Partnership's Milestones are in bold)

1998 Swedish study finds levels of various polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) in human breast milk rising.
1998-2004 Many studies find pentaBDE in air, soil, sediments, bird eggs, fish, sea mammals, house and office dust, food and human blood serum in many locations throughout the world.
August 2003 Environmental Working Group study finds record high levels of various PBDEs in breast milk of US mothers.
August 2003 California enacts law to phase out penta-BDE by 2008 (later amended to January 1, 2006). Several other U.S. states, e.g. Washington, Maine, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Michigan and New York, enact or consider legislation to regulate PBDEs in 2003-2004.
November 2003The sole U.S. manufacturer announces it will voluntarily cease production of two widely-used flame retardant chemicals (pentaBDE and octaBDE) by the end of 2004.
December 2003 The furniture industry meets with EPA to kickoff and scope out the Furniture Flame Retardancy Partnership.
Summer-Fall 2004 The Partnership collects environmental and toxicological information on flame retardant alternatives to pentaBDE.
December 1, 2004EPA proposes a Significant New Use Rule (SNUR) [Significant New Use Rule (SNUR) [PDF] (81KB, 9 pages)] in the Federal Register to require notification to EPA ninety days prior to US manufacture or import, for any use, of the commercial product pentaBDE after January 1, 2005.
December 31, 2004 National voluntary phase-out of penta-BDE production complete.
January 11-12, 2005 Partnership meeting to present Draft Alternatives Assessment for PentaBDE Substitutes.
September 2005 Partnership report completed: "Environmental Profiles of Chemical Flame-Retardant Alternatives for Low-Density Polyurethane Foam"
2006 Draft proposed fire safety standards for residential upholstered furniture (CPSC) anticipated.

For more information about the Furniture Flame Retardancy Partnership, contact DfE.

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