Some Good News about Toxic Flame Retardants: Canada’s Proposing an Expanded Ban

For all those concerned about the presence of toxic flame retardants known as polybrominated diphenyl ethers (or PBDEs for short) in all kinds of products (e.g., furniture, textiles, electronics), know that Canada is committing to banning all of them in everything. Currently only some are.

While not all PBDEs are banned in all products yet and won’t be for a few more years, the commitment of the federal government to do so is certainly noteworthy. Ecojustice, the David Suzuki Foundation, the Canadian Environmental Law Association, and Environmental Defence welcomed this news since we collectively filed a formal Notice of Objection to the original regulations. This was because the original regulations only banned some PBDEs in all products – they did not ban the import and use of the PBDEs that makeup the most widely used mixture. The expanded regulations the government is committing to introducing, however, will.

For more information, check out the recent media release and backgrounder (pdf). Also be sure to visit Health Canada’s webpage about PBDEs.