(Sacramento, CA) – New data showing increased levels of toxic flame retardants in the San Francisco Bay underline the need to end the use of decabromodiphenyl ether (or decaBDE), Assembly Speaker pro Tempore Sally Lieber (D-San Jose) said today.

Lieber is the author of a bill, Assembly Bill 513, to ban the use of decaBDE in consumer electronics.  Assembly Bill 706, authored by Assemblyman Mark Leno (D-San Francisco), sought to ban the use of decaBDE in home furnishings.  Both bills were defeated, but were granted reconsideration and can be taken up next year. 

"The most effective way to prevent contamination of the Bay is to stop the use of toxic chemicals at the source,” Assemblywoman Lieber said.  “This new report from the San Francisco Estuary Institute points to the need to eliminate decaBDE from the products we buy.”

According to the report, concentrations of decaBDE in the Bay are rising.  This is significant because deca represents the one remaining class of polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) that can still be used in California.  Average concentrations of deca are highest in the Lower South Bay (9.0 ppb in 2006).

DecaBDE has been found to have the same effect on the nervous system in doses similar to other PBDEs that California banned in 2003, causing permanent damage to learning ability, memory and behavior, which worsens with age.  Exposure levels in children are close to those shown to cause neurotoxic damage.  Scientists have found decaBDE in household dust, food, human blood, breast milk, dietary supplements containing cod liver oil, and peregrine falcon eggs.

Many manufacturers, including Apple, HP, Dell, Sony, Samsung and Toshiba have either substituted, or plan to replace decaBDE with safer flame retardants that meet state and federal standards.  The State of Washington has enacted a phased in ban on the use of decaBDE in both furnishings and consumer electronics.