Statement from Californians for Toxic-Free Fire Safety

A statement from the Californians for Toxic-Free Fire Safety coalition responding to Governor Jerry Brown's directive to revise California's flammability standards and reduce the use of toxic fire retardants.

• Governor Jerry Brown directed state agencies to update decades-old flammability standards to decrease the use of toxic fire retardants.
• The coalition asserts that flame retardant chemicals are ineffective at stopping fires and instead make them more deadly, contributing to higher cancer rates among firefighters, including brain cancer, malignant melanoma, and various lymphomas and prostate/testicular cancers.
• California's Technical Bulletin 117 (TB 117) is described as a virtual mandate for adding chemicals to baby products and foam furniture manufactured across North America.
• Research indicates that flame retardants are widespread globally, appearing in water and tissues as far as the Arctic, and are linked to health issues such as autism, infertility, lower IQ, and cancer.
• A 2011 study by Dr. Ami Zota found that PBDE flame retardant levels in pregnant California women were 10 to 100 times higher than those in Asia and Europe, and two to three times higher than in other U.S. regions. Another 2011 study found Mexican-American children in California had seven times more flame retardants in their bodies than children in Mexico and three times more than their mothers.

APA

Fox, A. (2012). Statement from Californians for Toxic-Free Fire Safety. Friends of the Earth. https://foe.org/news/2012-06-statement-from-californians-for-toxic-free-fire-safe/

Chicago

Fox, Audrey. Statement from Californians for Toxic-Free Fire Safety. Friends of the Earth, 2012. https://foe.org/news/2012-06-statement-from-californians-for-toxic-free-fire-safe/.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |last1=Fox |first1=Audrey |title=Statement from Californians for Toxic-Free Fire Safety |publisher=Friends of the Earth |date=18 June 2012 |url=https://foe.org/news/2012-06-statement-from-californians-for-toxic-free-fire-safe/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{fox2012statement, author = {Fox, Audrey}, title = {{Statement from Californians for Toxic-Free Fire Safety}}, publisher = {Friends of the Earth}, year = {2012}, month = jun, url = {https://foe.org/news/2012-06-statement-from-californians-for-toxic-free-fire-safe/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }