I was just treated to an interesting and unexpected phone call from the Citizens for Fire Safety, a well-known industry front group for bromine flame retardant manufacturers. It was an automated invitation to a conference call in progress, hosted by an individual whose name I didn’t catch (but who seemed to have a Vermont accent) as well as a fellow by the name of Thomas Brace. Brace was identified as a founder of the “National Association of State Fire Marshals” (more on them below), and identified himself as a former state Fire Marshal (the state of Minnesota, as it turns out).

The call concerned S.109, which passed the Senate unanimously. The House couldn’t get to it in the scramble, but it will likely find its way onto health legislation in conference committee. The bill would ban bromine as a flame retardant in furniture and textiles, as has been done already in Maine, Washington and Europe. The treatment includes chemicals known as PBDEs which build up in the environment. The class of PBDE’s of particular concern are called Decas. They accumulate in the body and can act as an outright toxin, as well as impact the endrocrine system not unlike PCBs, which are similar. It’s bad stuff:

“They can affect the developing brain and they can affect the developing reproductive system,” said EPA senior toxicologist Linda Birbaum…

…”I am very concerned for the human population,” Birnbaum said.

The call was an interesting strategy for a persuasion attempt. It must have cost an awful lot, and I can’t imagine that many people followed through and participated in the conference call. I did because I was curious, and what I was treated to was an extraordinary barrage of deceptions from an organization with close ties to bromine manufacturers – and which has previously spent hundreds of thousands of dollars lobbying against similar legislation in other states.

The thrust of the call was to scare people and get them riled up against what the lead speaker called “the environmental lobby” which was getting “too strong” by virtue of this bill. Brace, acting as an expert, implied that fire fighters were united against this bill (until asked directly, when they got a little vague and changed the subject). The argument was that this was the only proven, effective such additive and banning it would cost lives.

I checked with the Chair of the Senate Natural Resources, Chittenden Senator Ginny Lyons, who knew exactly who these folks were and didn’t take them too seriously.  

For one thing, their argument is completely phony as there are non-toxic alternatives, such as RDP and polystyrene. Also, the unanimous vote in the Senate underscores the virtual unanimity among the players in this debate, including Robert Howe, the Vermont Fire Marshall, who testified during hearings on the bill. According to Lyons, these chemicals are 100 times more prevalent in breast milk in this country than in Europe, where they have been banned for some time, and its presence in the environment is increasing by 100 times a year in light of an industry working hard to expand their use. In her words, CFFS is “not citizens for fire safety, it’s citizens for more deca.”

In fact, the “star” of the call (Brace – who avoided a question about where he gets his own paycheck, saying that he did “consulting”), is a particular star of the industry effort, and was singled out by Friends of the Earth in a letter sent to state Governors last May.

From the letter:

CBS Evening News also reports that NASFM (National Association of State Fire Marshals) receives direct funding and pro bono services from the bromine fire retardant industry, raising further concerns about the credibility of the NASFM’s positions on a variety of fire safety issues.

These concerns are exacerbated by the fact that, for many years, the NASFM has shown an unwillingness to discriminate between funding sources, as evidenced by Maryland State Fire Marshal, Rocco J Gabriele, who as NASFM president in 1999, acknowledged to the Baltimore Sun, “Quite frankly, I don’t care where we get the money. I’m not proud. I’ll take money from whoever wants to give it to us.”

Inadequate internal policies against conflicts of interest are also apparent with respect to lobbying by former NASFM members, such as co-founder and Minnesota State Fire Marshal, Thomas Brace. Over the past year, Brace, while consulting to fire retardant manufacturers, testified in legislative hearings in both California and Washington State against restrictions on toxic fire retardants. Unfortunately, his testimpny contradicted that of state fire associations and officials who support fire retardant restrictions due to serious toxicity concerns.

The call specifically targeted Shap Smith, was crude, ham-handed, and probably won’t get too far. If you want to call them and tell them to keep their noses out of Vermont, here’s a phone number:

In the meantime, here’s a few greatest hits from the call. Sorry the quality is poor (and Chrome doesn’t seem to run the embedded audio script – here’s a link)…

First up, the evils of the environmental lobby:

Next up, entertaining stammering after a question about who they represent, and whether or not it includes any Vermonters or Vermont fire authorities (link):

Finally, a caller asks what the concerns are. Brace “wants to answer that question as clearly as he can” before completely avoiding the question and claiming that no recognized studies suggest any problem at all (link).

Simply put, these guys are pretty scummy. After sitting on that call, I felt like I needed a shower.