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History
- Reported and committed to finance
- Referred to environmental conservation
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Sponsor's memo
BILL NUMBER:S7265
Title of bill
An act to amend the environmental conservation law, in relation to chemicals in nap mats
Purpose or general idea of bill
Prohibits the sale of nap mats containing halogenated chemical flame retardants in the state of New York.
Summary of specific provisions
Section 1 provides definitions for chemical flame retardants and nap mats. This section further prohibits the sale of nap mats containing halogenated chemical flame retardants in the state of New York.
Section 2 provides the effective date.
Justification
A recent study conducted by California's Center for Environmental Health found chemical flame retardants in an alarming number of nap mats on the market in California. This is despite the fact that nap mats have never been identified as an ignition source for fires. What is more, the United States Department of Commerce, National Bureau of Standards has found that there are no significant differences in fire resistance between treated and untreated polyurethane foams. Recognizing this and the fact that most home fires are caused by cigarettes, California has adopted a new "smolder standard" for upholstered furniture that would not require manufacturers to use chemical flame retardants.
Chemical flame retardants migrate out of furniture - including nap mats - and into house-hold dust. Because of their tendency to put items in their mouth, toddlers typically have three times the level of flame retardants as their parents. This exposure is on top of what babies are born with. An article in the Chicago Tribune stated "A typical American baby is born with the highest recorded concentrations of flame retardants among infants in the world."
Many flame retardants, most notably halogenated chemical retardants, have been associated with adverse health impacts. For example, the Consumer Product Safety Commission identified the flame retardant Tris as a threat to human health, and California has identified Tris as a suspected human carcinogen. In addition, when combusted, chemical flame retardants can also form harmful by-products with the potential to affect the health of firefighters adversely. A recent study in San Francisco found that firefighters had two to three times the rate of flame retardants in their blood stream than average and found that the 110 female firefighters in the study experienced a risk of breast cancer that was nearly six times higher than the general population.
In addition, there is precedent for banning dangerous flame retardants. New York State has previously banned the use of the brominated flame retardant PentaBDE, and banned the use of Tris (TCEP) in children's products.
Because chemical flame retardants have significant health concerns and do not prevent fires, they should not be used in children's sleeping pads. Accordingly, this bill would prohibit the sale of nap mats that
contain these unnecessary chemical, while providing retailers time to sell through any existing inventory they may have that is noncompliant with the provisions of this bill.
Prior legislative history
New bill.
Fiscal implications
None to New York State.
Effective date
This act shall take effect January 1, 2016.
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.