WASHINGTON - March 31 - Representatives Solis, Woolsey, and DeGette introduced legislation to ban two common flame retardants. The chemicals have been linked to health effects including neurological damage and permanent memory loss, and have been detected in the breast milk of American women at levels higher than anywhere else in the world.

The ban would affect two types of polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) that were recently banned in California, as well as any substance capable of breaking down into those two compounds. U.S. PIRG, which applauded the proposal, recently released a report documenting that a third common PBDE flame retardant breaks down into to chemicals covered by the proposed ban and would therefore be banned as well.

"Representatives Solis, Woolsey, and DeGette have taken a good step toward protecting human health," commented U.S. PIRG Environmental Health Associate Meghan Purvis. "Congress should act quickly to pass this legislation and ban any flame retardant that threatens health."

PBDEs are widely used as flame-retardants in a variety of common consumer products, including electronics and electrical equipment, as well as in upholstery and other textiles. These toxic flame retardants escape from consumer products into air and water and have been found in household dust and in the food supply. The chemicals accumulate in the human body, pass from a mother to a developing fetus, and have been found in human breast milk.

"Mothers and their children should not be involuntary test subjects for the effects of PBDEs and other toxic chemicals," said U.S. PIRG's Purvis. "The good news is that PBDEs are not necessary for fire safety: Alternatives exist that protect people from fire and are not linked to negative health effects."

PBDEs include three main types: pentabrominated diphenyl ether (Penta), octabrominated diphenyl ether (Octa), and Decabrominated diphenyl ether (Deca). While the bill calls only for a ban on Penta and Octa, it requires EPA to expand the ban to include Deca if their analysis shows that it breaks down into Penta and Octa.

U.S. PIRG's recent report documented that, in addition to breaking down into other toxic flame retardants, Deca itself accumulates in human blood and breast milk in the bodies of electronics workers as well as in people who had not been exposed in the workplace.

"The latest science clearly points to the need for a federal ban of Deca," said U.S. PIRG's Purvis. "We cannot continue to expose children or adults to harmful chemicals like Deca while we wait for health impacts to develop. Harmful chemicals should not be allowed on the market in the first place."

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