DuPont raises questions on FR timing, durability
By David Perry -- Furniture Today, January 29, 2006
Richmond, Va. — DuPont, a supplier of fire-resistant materials to the bedding industry, says a proposed federal mattress flammability standard doesn't do enough to protect consumers.
In a statement released to Furniture/Today, the company said the standard should take effect sooner than a proposed date of July 2007, and also said the issue of durability — whether FR protection will wear off over time — deserves more study.
DuPont said it supports the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission's intent to issue a mandatory standard on mattress flammability, which would offer "increased protection to consumers via reduced deaths, injuries and property damage."
The CPSC has released a draft of its national mattress flammability standard and is expected to approve a final standard next month.
In its statement, DuPont raised several points about the proposed standard.
"Given the known hazard, we as an industry have a responsibility to better protect consumers with a standard (for the open-flame flammability of mattresses) that requires a durable FR solution that lasts well beyond the point of sale, and a standard that would be enacted as soon as possible (in early 2007)," the company said. "The current draft of the flammability standard does not adequately address these two issues."
DuPont posed these questions about the draft standard:
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"With the technology, capacity and capability to provide protection to consumers now, why wait?
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"Why enact a regulation that allows the FR properties of a mattress to decline or vanish after only a short period of use?"
The company said it is designing its FR materials to be durable "because mattress producers have asked for this, and because we believe this is in the best interest of the consumer."
Warren Knoff, a DuPont research fellow, asserted that "additional study needs to be done on the durability (flammability performance) of all flame-retardant barriers."
Knoff said that CPSC test results have demonstrated the soluble nature of several flame-retardant chemicals (FRC) used to treat barriers. He asked: "Are FRC suppliers and producers of FRC barrier products (such as boric acid and ammonium polyphosphates) able to demonstrate the durability of their solutions? Doesn't the consumer deserve FR protection that will last?"
On the issue of timing, DuPont said that it can be prepared to supply FR materials to a significant portion of the mattress manufacturing industry "in as little as six months after publication (of the standard) in the Federal Register."
DuPont also said it "applauds and supports" the sleep products industry for recognizing the need to protect consumers by developing a national standard for FR mattresses.
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DuPont reacts to proposed FR standard
Jan 24, 2006
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