Assessment of risks and benefits in the use of flame retardants in upholstered furniture in continental Europe

The originality of this review is to evaluate the risks and benefits induced by the use of flame retardants in upholstered furniture in continental Europe, throughout an assessment of the risks over the whole life cycle.This paper examines the currently available literature on the various risks linked to the use of flame retardants in upholstered furniture in the continental European market:
• Risk linked to the exposure of workers to flame retardants during manufacture.
• Risk of exposure to flame retardants in dwelling houses under normal living conditions, which mainly results in inhalation of accumulated flame retardants released in the interior air and/or in migration of substances as well as contamination by skin contact.
• Risk of emission of toxic gases when manufactured products are recycled.
• Risk of aggravated emissions of toxic gases in the case of accidental fires caused by cigarettes or matches on upholstered furniture, whether it is flame retarded or not. The CBUF program, as well as studies from the LNE and a European research program, has studied the emission and level of acute toxicants (CO, CO2, NOx, HCl, HBr, HCN, SO2) released by selected flame-retarded or not upholstered furniture during fire.A methodology has been proposed to estimate the risks and benefits of flame retardants used in upholstered furniture, within the life cycle risk assessment. For common flame retardants, data sheets have been written in order to evaluate the complete risk balance. This concerns the long-term impact on health of exposure to products containing flame retardants, as well as from exposure to their fire effluents.