The flame retardant in your car could cause cancer

SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS RADIO) – Nobody wants their car seats to go up in flames, but new research indicates that flame retardant chemicals used to prevent fires may be putting our health at risk.

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Heather Stapleton, an environmental chemist and exposure scientist at Duke University, is one of the researchers of the study published Tuesday in the Environmental Science and Technology journal . She joined KCBS Radio’s Holly Quan this week to discuss her team’s findings.

“Our research demonstrated that, with increasing temperatures, you have more release of these chemicals from the seats, which led to higher levels in the air,” she said. This can be especially dangerous as temperatures increase in the summer.

According to the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences , flame retardants are chemicals that are applied to materials to prevent or slow burning. These chemicals can include bromine, hexabromocyclododecane, organophosphate, polybrominated diphenyl ethers and tetrabromobisphenol A.

“Although flame retardants can offer benefits when added to certain products, increasing scientific evidence shows that many of these chemicals may harm animals and humans,” said the institute. “Adverse health effects may include endocrine and thyroid disruption, immunotoxicity, reproductive toxicity, cancer, and adverse effects on fetal and child development and neurologic function.”

Stapleton said the presence of flame retardant chemicals varies from car to car. She said manufacturers should look into different methods of mitigating fire risk in car cabins. For example, she said processes that bind the chemicals to materials can prevent them from leeching into the air and causing damage.

To minimize the risks of breathing in these chemicals, Stapleton recommends parking vehicles in shaded areas and giving vehicles time to air out and cool off in the summer before spending time in them.

“Open the windows, let it circulate,” she told Quan. “Anything you could do to reduce those very hot air levels which have the higher concentrations of these chemicals.”

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