Flame retardants in car seat foam may increase exposure to potentially cancer-causing chemicals—especially during the summer—according to a new study, and the researchers urge government officials to amend regulations to prohibit the use of flame retardants in cars to reduce health risks, as the safety and effectiveness of flame retardants faces growing scrutiny.
The interior of a car. Poly Resin Molds
The researchers tested the cabin air of 101 electric, gas and hybrid cars across 30 states with a model year between 2015 and 2022 for potentially toxic flame retardants in both the winter and summer, according to the study published Tuesday in Environmental Science & Technology.
Flame retardants are used in many consumer products, like furniture, electronics and mattresses, and were added to car seat foam to meet requirements put in place by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 302, which was made to prevent or slow the spread of car-related fires.
This standard was set in the 1970s, and the study researchers are urging the NHTSA to update its standards to exclude the use of flame retardants due to their potentially harmful effects.
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They discovered in both seasons about 99% of the cabins contained the flame retardant tris (1-chloro-isopropyl) phosphate (TCIPP), which is being investigated by the National Toxicology Program as a potential carcinogen—it has already found TCIPP may increase carcinoma risks in rats. Other potentially toxic flame retardant tri-n-butyl phosphate (TNBP) was found in 73% of cabins during the winter and 100% during the summer, while triethyl phosphate (TEP) was in 85% of cabins during the winter and 96% during the summer, and tris (1,3-dichloro-2-propyl) phosphate (TDCIPP) was present in 23% of cabins during the winter and 59% during the summer. Levels were higher in the summer because warmer temperatures cause an increase in off-gassing, which is the release of chemicals from car interiors, according to the study. To determine where in the cars the potentially toxic flame retardants were found, the researchers tested foam seat samples from 51 cars, and found 33 had possibly toxic flame retardants like TDCIPP and tris (2-chloroethyl) phosphate (TCEP), which were both labeled as carcinogens by California’ Proposition 65.
TDCIPP levels were about six times lower, and TNBP levels were around three times lower, in vehicles with all-electric engines compared to those with gas enginesTDCIPP levels in electric engines were around eight times lower in winter and 14 times lower in summer when compared to hybrids, though the team is unsure if the type of engine caused these differences or another factor like brand prevalence may be the cause, since some brands were more represented in the study than others.
"Filling products with these harmful chemicals does little to prevent fires for most uses and instead makes the blazes smokier and more toxic for victims, and especially for first responders,” Patrick Morrison, assistant to the general president for Occupational Health, Safety and Medicine at the International Association of Fire Fighters, said in a statement.
Flame retardants provide an important layer of protection to delay and prevent the ignition of fires. Their use has resulted in a 53% decrease in structural fires since 1980, and a 46% decrease in civilian deaths, according to the American Chemistry Council. Flame retardants in foam caused fire to spread 25% slower than non-flame-retardant foam, a study published in Fire Technology found. Fire retardants are only used on 5% of all wildfires in the U.S., but they’re very effective at reducing the intensity and spread of wildfires, according to the Department of Agriculture.
Foam Casting Molds Research has found firefighters are exposed to dangerously high levels of PBDEs when tackling fires, and this may be the cause of high cancer rates in the profession. Participants with the highest levels of PBDEs in their blood had a 300% higher chance of dying from cancer compared to those with the lowest levels, according to a recent study. Cancer is the leading cause of death among firefighters, and they may have a higher cancer risk than the general population, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Firefighters have a 9% higher risk of receiving a cancer diagnosis, and a 14% higher chance of dying from cancer compared to the general public due to exposure to carcinogenic chemicals, according to the Preventative Diagnostic Center.