BSEF Raise Serious Concerms on the Possible Link between Flame Retardants in Sofas and Cancer

The Bromine Science and Environmental Forum (BSEF) would like to react to the presentation made by Dr Michelangeli at the Lifesciences 2007 conference and covered on AZoBuild Online website (1). Our first correction is that contrary to what is written in the article TBBPA is not used in the manufacturing of sofas. Secondly, the presentation by Dr Michelangeli is based on scientific data that we have not seen, neither does it appear to have been published in a peer reviewed scientific journal. Notwithstanding this, we feel that the existing scientific work on TBBPA prove some of Dr Michelangeli’s statement to be false. The EU has undertaken a full risk assessment on the health effects of TBBPA. The assessment reviewed several 100 studies on the effects of TBBPA and concluded in 2005 that TBBPA presents no risk to human health. More details can be found at http://www.bsef.org . Given the significant body of work so far undertaken on TBBPA it does not seem credible to state that TBBPA can cause the effects cited by Dr Michelangeli. BSEF has contacted Dr Michelangeli to ask him for a copy of his study, abstract or presentation to understand better the basis for his conclusions.