Conclusions


 * Conclusions:**

There are many concerns about the negative health and environmental consequences that PBDE's may have. As a result the use of many PBDE derivatives has been minimized or banned. It is important to note that many of the commerically available substitutes for fire-retardants are also implicated in health or environmental complications. It is also interesting to know the American airline regulator (FAA) has not found fire-retardants as a whole to meet expectations, as they also suggest alternative strategies to reduce the risks posed by fires (Sarkos and Hill, 1992) even before the PBDE's were banned (Babruskas and Krasny, 1985). If the airline industry is not satisfied that flame-retardants are worth the bother, then perhaps society should also re-consider the necessity for flame retardants in domestic upholstered items such as furniture, mattresses, and carpeting. People create new risks while trying to overcome obviously dangerous natural risks. By limiting the use of fire-retardants, regulators are trying to get people to ignore day-to-day fire risks because of new, difficult-to-see possible health-related risks. In this case, it is important to reference the beginning of the plastics-era where camphor was a common plasticizer, and the plastics could catch fire very easily. People of that era would have been eager to avoid dramatic celluloid-related burn injuries and property damage. Our appreciation of risk is relative to what we are most personally familiar with. People also need to use fire safely, and maintain equipment and structures consistent with safety. There may be some genuine needs for flame-retardant chemicals in the transportation, industrial, and military sectors. It also appears unwise to use these chemicals indiscriminately in a false hope of creating a Utopian world that is free of unintentional fires.

C.P. Sarkos and R.G. Hill, Effectiveness of Seat Cushion Blocking Layer Materials Against Cabin Fires, SAE Technical Paper 821484, Aerospace Congress and Exposition, Anaheim, CA October 25-28, 1992)

V. Babruskas and J.F. Krasny, Prediction of Upholstered Chair Heat Release Rates from Bench Scale Measurements, Fire Safety: Science and Engineering, T.Z Harmathy, ed. ASTM Special Technical Publication 882, Phila., PA 1985, pp.269-284

http://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/cellulose.pdf

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0LX2tlMNhCk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7mZDt8vYMBw&feature=related

This was a fun project to research. We all learned a lot, and we hope everybody will take some time to read our research and benefit from it.

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