On Thursday, September 14, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) held a hearing on petition CPSC-2015-0022; Petition Requesting Rulemaking on Products Containing Organohalogen Flame Retardants. The petition was filed by a group of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) asking the CPSC to ban the use of organohalogen flame retardants in several products, including the (outer) plastic casings of electronics. The petition does not address the use of flame retardants in electronics components.
Rick Goss, Senior Vice President of Environment and Sustainability at the Information Technology Industry Council (ITI) testified at the hearing on behalf of IPC, ITI, and the Consumer Technology Association (CTA). The hearing can be viewed at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ovSTKppR15U, with the presentation of the joint testimony beginning at 2:12.
In joint testimony, the associations requested that the commission follow staff recommendations and deny the petition because it is overly broad and insufficiently justified in its claims, fails to provide the data showing a connection between the exposure to a substance and personal injury or harm from that exposure.
During the hearing, the commissioners posed a number of questions to industry. IPC, CTA and ITA will be working with their members to respond promptly, in advance of the meeting scheduled for September 20.
Filed under: electronics, Environment, Health and Safety, IPC, Legislation Tagged: CPSC, CTA, electronics components, environment and sustainability, flame retardants, ipc, ITI, NGO, organohalogen
