The last of the toxic PBDE family of flame retardants still legal for use in Illinois, decaBDE accumulates in the environment and people, damages young mammals' developing brains, and breaks down into even more dangerous toxins. With cost-effective and equally fire-safe alternatives available, Environment Illinois is advancing legislation to eliminate this toxic chemical from its major uses in televisions, mattresses and home furniture.

More than 50 million pounds of the toxic flame retardant deca-bromodiphenylether (decaBDE) are built into TVs, mattresses, automobiles and other products annually in North America. The last of the toxic PBDE family of flame retardants still in widespread use, research indicates decaBDE delays brain development and causes adult learning and behavior problems in lab animals exposed early in life.

In the environment and through metabolic processes in animals, decaBDE breaks down into even more toxic chemicals, including forms of PBDEs banned by the Illinois legislature in 2005. Due to its tendency to leach from products and propensity for airborne transport, decaBDE is found worldwide in increasing concentrations—it's in household dust, the air we breathe, the food we eat, and human blood and breast milk.

Like other toxics, decaBDE is thought to be most damaging to developing children—but they are also the most exposed. Studies suggest young children receive up to 300 times greater exposure to PBDEs relative to adults, primarily from breast milk and inadvertent dust ingestion. PBDEs are also dangerous to firefighters. According to the International Association of Firefighters: "Unlike other flame retardants, when PBDEs burn, they release dense fumes and black smoke that reduce visibility and a highly corrosive gas known as hydrogen bromide."

In Lake Michigan, toxic PBDEs amass in top predator fish, such as salmon and trout, to the same extent as its chemical cousins, the notorious PCBs, which were banned 30 years ago but are still the number one cause of advisories against fish consumption in Illinois.

In a March 2007 report, Illinois Environmental Protection Agency surveyed recent research on decaBDE and concluded that decaBDE can and should be eliminated. The agency’s survey of in-state manufacturers using decaBDE concluded that alternative flame retardants can be substituted for decaBDE in household products with little or no cost barrier. The computer industry and television makers including Sony, Samsung and Phillips already meet the highest fire safety standards without decaBDE, and mattresses and textiles are largely decaBDE-free.