Brussels, 29/08/2001 (Agence Europe) - Next Wednesday, the European Parliament will discuss in plenary session, in Strasbourg, in codecision procedure (first reading), the report by Frédérique Ries (ELDR, Belgium) on the Commission proposal aimed at banning the marketing and use of pentabromodiphenyl ether (pentaBDE).
PentaBDE belongs to the family of diphenylether polybromides, like octaBDE and decaBDE. These three substances used as a flame retardant for furniture and furnishings mainly has the property of accumulating in the environment, of producing dioxin and of upsetting the endocrine system. Increasing levels of pentaBDE are now to be found in breast milk.
The Commission proposal recommends a total ban on the marketing and use of pentaBDE only. The Ries Report goes further by also requesting a ban on the marketing and use of octaBDE, in so far as the rapporteur considers there is now sufficient proof of this substance's toxicity and that this substance is, moreover, like pentaBDE, already proscribed for electrical and electronic equipment. In addition, the MEP hopes to strengthen the ban on pentaBDE by fixing at 0.1% (instead of 5% proposed by the Commission) the maximum content admissible for residues of this substance in other manufactured products. She insists on the fact that such bans are all the easier to apply as there are now less harmful flame retardants available and that the risk of fire will not be increased by the fact that pentaBDE and octaBDE are banned from use.