AN OVERVIEW OF RECENT ENVIRONMENTAL AND HEALTH EVALUATIONS OF FLAME RETARDANTS FEATURING THE EU ENFIRO PROJECT

摘要

The environmental behaviour of flame retardants has been studied since the 1990ies. Mainly brominated flame retardants were found in many environmental compartments and living organisms, even human milk. Furthermore, some individual substances were found to have toxic properties. Therefore, alternatives have been demanded by authorities, environmental groups and equipment manufacturers. Consequently, from 2009 to 2012, the European Union funded collaborative research project ENFIRO (www.enfiro.eu , EU research project FP7: 226563) carried out a comprehensive analysis of environmental and health properties as well as technical performance and life cycle aspects of typical alternatives to the major brominated flame retardants. A large group of the studied flame retardants were found to have a good environmental and health profile in addition to being on a comparable technical performance level. Also in the United States, flame retardants have been the topic of alternatives assessments for a number of years under the Environmental Protection Agency’s “Design for Environment” programme. The projects related to tetrabromo bisphenol-A (TBBPA), decabromo diphenylethers and hexabromocyclododecane (HBCD) are expected to be finalized in 2013. On the legislative side, substances are continuously being added to the list of “substances of very high concern” under REACH in Europe, and also the list of restricted substances under RoHS is being reviewed. The producers of alternatives have formed an industry association for phosphorus, inorganic and nitrogen flame retardants (pinfa) in order to better inform flame retardant users and the public about technical options and the properties of their products. pinfa has also run a pilot project with GreenScreen, an assessment tool for users of chemicals to determine the environmental and health profile of PIN flame retardants.