CPSC Holds Day-Long Upholstered Furniture Seminar

CPSC and its stakeholders April 25 tackled one of the agency’s longest-standing challenges: upholstered furniture flammability. The all-day session at the agency’s Rockville, Md., lab included attention to the perennial concerns about and tension between chemical and barrier solutions. George Borlase, the agency’s associate executive director for engineering sciences, told participants that they were addressing a difficult problem with “no obvious solution” due in part to the complexity of both the hazard and the products. He described the latter as having “infinite variety.” He explained there are “no easy answers, or we would have already done it.” However, he asserted, the ultimate goal was to “identify that difficult solution.”

Andy Stadnik, director of laboratory sciences at CPSC, echoed Borlase, observing that there was a diverse group assembled and urging them to “speak to not at each other.” He explained that the goal was not about finding or endorsing a particular solution but for the agency to collect information. He noted that the sessions would become part of the public record and urged reviewing them as stakeholders prepare comments on CPSC’s upholstered furniture activity.

The sessions were webcast live and a recording presumably will be available in the near future at CPSC’s webcast archives page at www.cpsc.gov/en/Newsroom/Multimedia. The agenda for the sessions is at www.cpsc.gov/Newsroom/Public-Calendar/Agendas/Upholstered-Furniture-Fire-Safety-Technology-Meeting-Agenda. CPSC has an open notice of proposed rulemaking (NPR) that dates to 2008 (PSL, 2/11/08, p. 1) and was stalled by the CPSIA activity that began that year. However, the agency’s current project goes back into the 1990s.

Issues that could affect the situation include the near universality of state laws for reduced ignition propensity (RIP) cigarettes and a move in California earlier this year (PSL, 2/18/13, p. 1) to reduce use of flame retardant chemicals. CPSC has been monitoring the update of the state’s TB-117 upholstered furniture flammability rule because the its requirements can affect what occurs nationwide. CPSC staff recently gave input to the state (PSL, 4/1/13, p. 1) on issues such as draft enclosure, char length, filling material, the use of standard materials and the use of bench-scale models.

Meanwhile, there has been a strong push away from chemical solutions, with activists highlighting their concerns (PSL, 3/4/13, p. 1) about effects on the human body, including neurological development, immune suppression, cancer and reproductive issues.