Fire Safety Plus Chemical Safety

You’ve got questions about chemicals in your home. We’ve got answers.

1. Look for the Make Life Safer Plus (Green) Tag when buying new furniture.

2. Educate yourself on this page about reducing flame retardant exposure.

What are flame retardants?

Flame retardants are chemicals that are added or applied to materials in order to slow or prevent the start or growth of fire.  There are hundreds of different flame retardants, many of which have been used in furniture foam for decades. They are often broken into categories based on chemical structure and properties. In general, flame retardants are grouped based on whether they contain bromine, chlorine, phosphorus, nitrogen, metals, or boron.

Brominated flame retardants and organophosphorus flame retardants are two types of commonly used flame retardants.

What are some of the potential health effects associated with flame retardants?

A growing body of evidence shows that many of these flame retardant chemicals are associated with adverse health effects in animals and humans, including endocrine and thyroid disruption, impacts to the immune system, reproductive toxicity, cancer, and adverse effects on fetal and child development and neurologic function.²

Researchers are also beginning to look at the potential association between flame retardants and other health outcomes, including thyroid disruption and obesity, and the role they may be playing in human development. More research needs to be done to understand the effect these chemicals are having on human health.

Who is most vulnerable?

Children may be particularly vulnerable to the toxic effects of these chemicals, because their brain and other organs are still developing. Hand-to-mouth behavior and proximity to the floor increases the potential of children to be exposed to flame retardants in house dust. Researchers have found that children have higher concentrations of flame retardants in their bodies than adults.³

How are people exposed to flame retardants?

People can be exposed to flame retardants through a variety of ways, including consumer products in the home, car, airplane, and workplace; diet; and house dust.¹ In the home, dust can get on hands and food and then into the mouth when food is eaten. This is the most common exposure pathway.

Flame retardants do not easily break down, they can remain persistent in the environment for years. They can also bioaccumulate, or build up in people and animals over time.

Are flame retardants found in upholstered furniture?

Yes.  Unfortunately, the Duke University Superfund Research Center is still finding potentially toxic flame retardants in new upholstered furniture. Over 50% of the approximately 800 consumer samples submitted to the Duke University laboratory by individual owners of sofas, love seats and futons contained flame retardants.  Even as new research about the harms of flame retardants has emerged and the use of flame retardants has been decreasing, the Duke University is still finding approximately 15% of new sofas, love seats and futons in 2018 containing flame retardant chemicals.

See https://foam.pratt.duke.edu/our-findings for more information.

How can I protect my family?

Lifestyle changes and purchasing decisions can help protect your family from dust containing flame retardant chemicals.  For example, washing hands before every meal can have an impact on the ingestion of dust containing flame retardants, especially for children.

Wherever possible, you should seek to purchase items that do not contain flame retardants.  The Make Life Safer Plus program provides independent verification that upholstered furniture manufactured by participating manufacturers has been tested for the presence of the most widely-used flame retardants which have been historically used in upholstered furniture manufacturing. Purchasing Make Life Safer verified furniture is one important step that you can take to minimize exposure to these toxic chemicals.   Other helpful steps include:

• Keep dust levels down, by wet mopping and vacuuming with a high efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filter to help remove contaminants from your floor
• Reduce dust by having a good ventilation system in your home

What are the flame retardant chemicals tested for in the Make Life Safer Plus independent verification program?

The current list of flame retardant chemicals tested for in polyurethane foam in upholstered furniture is found here. The Make Life Safer Technical Advisory Committee monitors changes in the marketplace and may periodically review and update this list as needed. Presently, the UFAC program has a strict 0.1% limit (1000 parts per million) to account for potential testing variances and supply chain contamination. If new information or chemicals are found that affect the testing requirements, the program’s limits could also be adjusted.

The Make Life Safer Technical Advisory Committee is presently leading Beta testing for flame retardants in upholstery and other fabrics. Those results and the final list of flame retardant chemicals is not yet finalized. This space will be updated with that information once it is available.

Are Make Life Safer Plus products completely free of flame retardant (FR) chemicals?

No. Due to limitations of testing methodology and equipment, there is always a small chance of trace contamination in the supply chain, that new undetectable flame retardant (FR) chemicals were used, or that a small amount of FR chemicals (below what can be reliably found through testing) could be present. The Make Life Safer Plus program cannot test every individual piece of furniture and does not claim that every piece of its participating manufacturers’ furniture is 100% FR chemical free. Participating manufacturers must meet the requirements of the Make Life Safer Plus program’s terms and conditions, which includes scheduled and random testing of samples using independent and accredited laboratories.

The Make Life Safer Plus program has established transparent criteria for its participants and is North America’s only verification program exclusively designed by experts to independently test for the presence of FR chemicals the furniture industry. Using this program, furniture manufacturers can independently demonstrate through scheduled and random testing and other verification processes that their products are manufactured according to best practices to avoid the most common flame retardants of concern at detectable levels (see more below) that were traditionally used in manufacturing upholstered furniture.

Why can’t the program provide a 100% guarantee?

With today’s advanced scientific technology, the analytic process can detect content down to one part per billion and sometimes less. As we once knew it, the number zero no longer exists. In fact, the various state regulations banning certain FR chemicals recognize this scientific reality and provide for an acceptable maximum of no more than 1000 parts per million – that’s 0.1% (one-tenth of a percent) – meaning the product must be at least 99.99% free of the banned or otherwise restricted chemical(s). Accordingly, the Make Life Safer Plus program also recognizes and presently uses this same 0.1% as the maximum amount of the covered FR chemicals that may be present in a manufacturer’s samples.

Where can I go for more information?

• National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences
• National Toxicology Program
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
• Consumer Product Safety Commission
• U.S. Environmental Protection Agency