Environmental Geochemistry Issues Semi-Monthly

While in the Bay Area, California, my eye fell on several articles regarding possible new fire safety standards leading to the discontinued use of toxic flame retardants (e. g., Chlorinated Tris, PentaBDE) in upholstered furniture and children's products.   Chlorinated Tris and PentaBDE have been brought back into the California media forefront due to a recent proposal aimed at revising Technical Bulletin 117 , a 38 year old California flammability standard, which led to the use of toxic flame retardants in polyurethane foam throughout the United States.  In the original 1975 version, furniture flammability was tested by exposing a sample of polyurethane foam to a small, open flame for a period of 12 seconds.  This test allowed for flame retardant chemicals to be used in products to meet this flammability standard.  Later, it was found that the "open flame" test was unsatisfactory and unrealistic, as research has been shown that most upholstery fires start due t ...

http://myemail.constantcontact.com/NCADAC-Vice-Chair-Terese-Richmond-joins-Wednesday-Webinar.html?soid=1102306387692&aid=BlOuRlTRdZ0

For this post of Environmental Geochemistry Issues Semi-Monthly (EGISM), I began an investigation of Perchlorate contamination; its impacts on water quality, and its deleterious effects on human health. To begin, a brief summary of this persistent contaminant may be found in the following “Technical Fact Sheet” by the US Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) in May 2012. It can be perused at the link below: Technical Fact Sheet – Perchlorate   (EPA 505-F-11-003) http://www.epa.gov/fedfac/pdf/technical_fact_sheet_perchlorate.pdf Although perchlorate is both a naturally occurring, as well as an anthropogenic chemical compound, its dispersion and persistence in the environment has been found to be directly connected to its use as “a common oxidizer in solid propellants (e. g., rocket fuel), munitions (e. g., missiles, explosives), fireworks, and signal flares” (EPA 2005). Because this contaminant’s high solubility and stability in aqueous solution, upon its atmospheric ...