California's Draft Flame Retardant Test Expected To Reduce Chemicals' Use

California agencies are proposing to replace the state's strict "open flame" fire safety standard, a measure that critics say drives excess use of toxic flame-retardant chemicals nationwide, with a "smolder" standard that one expert says will reduce use of the chemicals. Arlene Blum, a chemistry professor at the University of California, Berkeley, who has long researched flame- retardant chemicals and advocated removing them from consumer products, told attendees during an Aug. 8 National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences webinar that...