Earlier this year Australia and Japan issued reports on the assessment of health risks associated with decaBDE used in everyday household items, these are now under heavy criticism by international NGOs.
According to the newly published risk assessment by Japan’s National Institute of Technology and Evaluation (Nite) about decaBDE and HBCD the two chemicals are of low concern in consumer products.
Earlier, The Recycler reported that Australia’s Nicnas published a report that did not offer specific policy recommendations, but instead advised the Australian government to “explore options” for the management of both the usage and importation of decaBDE based on the evidence it has collected.
According to Chemical Watch Ipen, a global network of NGOs has now criticised these assessment reports saying they are “misleading and undermining”. Ipen’s mercury and POPs Policy Adviser, Lee Bell even told Chemical Watch that the assessments were conducted to “downplay the high risks associated with the substances and reduce government and industry resources” and said the reports “required to manage and eliminate them and to delay the timeframes in which they must be managed nationally.”
Criticising the Australian assessment, Bell said: “The Australian assessment in particular, which seeks to suggest that the toxicity of c-decaBDE, the commercial form of decaBDE, is low, should be condemned as misleading and undermining the Stockholm Convention’s attempt to eliminate the use of this substance.”
Nicnas’s spokesperson rejected the criticism, according to Chemical Watch.
Bell talks about a more political motivated assessment report from Australia telling Chemical Watch: “Nicnas’ view of c-decaBDE toxicity may be more the product of political rather than scientific positions, given that Australia has still not ratified the amendment to the Stockholm Convention, which would require Australia to eliminate c-decaBDE or any of the other new POPs.”
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