IAFF Calls on Canadian Government to ban PBDEs

November 2, 2007 -- The IAFF has added its voice to the growing list of concerned groups and individuals calling on the Canadian government to ban the import and manufacture of polybrominted diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), which are dangerous chemical-based flame retardants found in everyday household objects.

On Nov. 1, the IAFF wrote a letter to federal Environment Minister John Baird explaining that fire fighters encounter PBDEs, which are on Canada’s list of toxic substances and which are classified as a carcinogen in the U.S., in a combusted state in the course of their duties. The letter calls on the Government of Canada to ban all forms of PBDEs in Canada and to support ongoing research into safe alternative flame retardants.

On the same day, the IAFF joined Lisa Gue of the David Suzuki Foundation and Aaron Freeman of Environmental Defence in the press theatre on Parliament Hill in Ottawa to jointly and publicly call on the federal government to ban PBDEs.

“Fire fighters believe the reports that identify this chemical as a health hazard,” IAFF Assistant to the General President for Canadian Operations Jim Lee told the national media, emphasizing that fire fighters are already at an increased risk of contracting numerous forms of cancer as a direct result of the occupation.

“Any measure that takes a potentially dangerous chemical away from the fire fighters’ workplace will enhance fire fighter and public safety,” Lee said. The press conference resulted in coverage of the issue in several major daily newspapers across Canada on Nov. 2.

The IAFF and the two environmental groups are also calling on the federal Standing Committee on Environment and Sustainable Development to add the issue to its agenda and hold hearings on PBDEs during the current session of parliament.

A number of opposition MPs have been raising the dangers of PBDEs on Parliament Hill in the past year, including NDP MP Peter Julian (Burnaby-New Westminster, B.C.), and Liberal MP Susan Kadis (Thornhill, Ont.) who have addressed the issue through a private members’ motion and bill respectively. NDP MP Nathan Cullen (Skeena-Bulkley Valley, B.C.), a member of the federal Environment Committee, also supports a ban.

PBDEs are used in consumer products such as televisions, computers, furniture, carpets, curtains, textiles, mattresses, appliances and vehicles. When combusted, PBDEs release bromine atoms which gather in a thin layer, keeping oxygen away and reducing flammability.

Concerns about PBDEs are not related only to combustion, but in everyday contact that may occur from contact with household objects such as furniture. PBDEs are found in household dust and can accumulate in the human body over time and have been detected in breast milk of pregnant and nursing women.

It is believed that PBDEs cause damage to the human neurological, reproductive, immune and hormonal systems.

While the Canadian government has proposed a regulation banning certain types of PBDEs, it targets types of the chemical that have already been phased out while exempting the more common deca-BDEs. According to the David Suzuki Foundation, the Canadian government’s proposed PBDE ban is also insufficient because it contains a wide exemption for “any PBDEs intended to be disposed of or recycled.”

The IAFF’s call for the Canadian government to ban PBDEs followed on the heels of a flurry of activity this year regarding PBDEs in Canada and the United States.

In February, the David Suzuki Foundation and Ecojustice (formerly Sierra Legal) filed a formal Notice of Objection to the Canadian Government’s proposed PBDE regulation. The government has not yet responded.

In April, as the result of a successful political action initiative led by the Washington State Council of Fire Fighters, Washington State banned PBDEs effective in 2008, pending a study of alternatives.

In May, the IAFF in Canada wrote a letter to MP Julian, a longtime IAFF supporter, in support of M-38, his private members’ motion to ban PBDEs. And in July, Maine became the second U.S. state to ban PBDEs, thanks to an initiative led by the Professional Fire Fighters of Maine. The Maine bill specifically targets deca-BDEs and phases them out by the year 2010. Other U.S. states examining the PBDE issue include California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana and New York.

The IAFF’s joint press conference on Nov. 1 resulted in coverage in the Windsor Star, the Edmonton Journal, the Vancouver Province and the Montreal Gazette, where it appeared on the front page.

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