Computers contain toxic chemicals that are released during production, normal use, recycling and/or disposal.

Your computer may be a toxic threat to your health, the environment and future generations.

Act now for a toxic-free future - see below.

Halogenated flame retardants - a threat to life

What are flame retardants?

Flame retardants
· are chemical substances used to make materials less flammable,
· are used in particular in electrical and electronic devices to protect them from catching fire (main applications in computers are printed circuit boards, components and their encapsulation, cables and enclosures),
· when applied, are used at concentrations of between 5 and 30% of the total weight of these materials.

What is the problem with flame retardants?

An important class of flame retardants currently in use is the halogenated flame retardants (HFRs), i.e. organic compounds with chlorine or bromine atoms. Brominated flame retardants (BFRs) represent about 75% of all HFRs. The presence of chlorine or bromine makes halogenated flame retardants
· persistent - i.e. they remain in the environment, as they are not degraded quickly,
· bioaccumulative - i.e. they accumulate in fatty tissues of wildlife and humans,
· toxic - i.e. they show a variety of severe toxic effects (e.g. liver tumours, endocrine disruption).

Am I exposed to halogenated flame retardants?
Numerous scientific studies have shown that halogenated flame retardants have become widespread contaminants of the urban and natural environment. HFRs have been found in human blood and breast milk, in marine mammals and in marine and freshwater fish. Moreover, levels in humans and in the environment continue to increase.

Release to the environment occurs during the manufacture of these chemicals, and during recycling or disposal of a wide range of household and other consumer products containing them:
· Significant levels of certain HFRs have been found in dolphins, and moreover in sperm whales, which feed in the deep sea,
· Significant levels of certain HFRs have been found in fish from Northern Europe,
· In Sweden, since 1972, levels of certain HFRs have doubled every five years in mother's milk,
· Elevated blood concentrations of certain HFRs have been found in workers at plants dismantling electronic equipment.

In addition, there is evidence that HFRs are released to the environment during routine use of the products containing them:
· HFRs have been identified in the indoor air of offices containing flame-retarded electronic equipment,
· Levels of certain HFRs in blood of computer clerks were found slightly elevated compared to levels in workers not using computers.

In other words, everybody is exposed to HFRs, and especially so when eating fish and fish-derived products from Northern Europe. Furthermore, there is evidence that you may even be directly exposed when watching TV or when working with electronic devices such as e.g. computers that contain HFRs.

Are there alternatives to halogenated flame retardants?
Requirements for flame resistance of plastics are often exaggerated. Where flame resistance is necessary, it is often possible to modify the design so that flame retardants can be avoided altogether. Otherwise, new materials are available that are intrinsically flame-resistant, eliminating the need for halogenated additives. Finally, less hazardous, non-persistent and non-bioaccumulative substances can be used as substitutes for halogenated chemicals in many applications. Halogen-free materials are commercially available for almost all applications in electrical and electronic equipment (EEE). Sony has committed to phase out HFRs in its products by 2002. Toshiba is offering notebooks with halogen-free motherboards since 1998 and has committed to do so for its entire PC product range by 2000. HFRs had been replaced in the housing of most TVs by 1997.

What has been done to address the problem?
In 1998, the OSPAR Convention (a Northern European Agreement to eliminate marine pollution) put all brominated flame retardants (BFRs) on a priority list of substances targeted for elimination. In 1998, the World Health Organisation recommended that brominated flame retardants be phased out. In 1999, Sweden drafted a national proposal for the phase-out of PBDEs and PBBs, two groups of brominated flame retardants.

What is happening at EU level
The European Commission intends to phase out PBDEs and PBBs in a future directive on waste electrical and electronic equipment to be proposed before Easter 2000.

However, the proposals pending are entirely insufficient, as PBDEs and PBBs represent only a minor share of the BFRs in use, and their share is decreasing. In 1998 in Western Europe, they represented 12% of the total use of BFRs, whereas other BFRs, esp. TBBPA and derivatives represented 27%. The difference is even more dramatic for EEE: in 1997 in Denmark, PBDEs and PBBs added up to only ~10% of the consumption of BFRs in end products, while TBBPA represented ~65% and other BFRs ~25%. With the current narrow focus, regulators once again run the risk to run behind the problems instead of solving them.

What does Greenpeace demand?
Ø A phase-out of all halogenated flame retardants by 2004 in the future EC directive on waste electrical and electronic equipment, as well as of toxic heavy metals (lead, cadmium, mercury, hexavalent chromium) and PVC. Ultimately, electrical and electronic goods should be free of all hazardous substances.
Ø Producer responsibility for setting up systems by 2002 that ensure separate collection of all waste electrical and electronic equipment, removal of all hazardous substances therein and their separate treatment.

For more information and useful links on hfrs view our website:
http://archive.greenpeace.org/toxics/hfr.html

This factsheet focuses on halogenated flame retardants only.
For information about the of toxic heavy metals:
http://archive.greenpeace.org/toxics/toxfreeasia/bhopal.pdf

For information on PVC:
http://greenpeace.org/~comms/pvctoys/reports/loomingcontents.html