STAND. COM. REP. NO. 529-04

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2004

RE: H.B. No. 2013

 

 

 

Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2004

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Consumer Protection and Commerce, to which was referred H.B. No. 2013 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO POLYBROMINATED DIPHENYL ETHERS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

 

The purpose of this bill is to protect our children from exposure to two forms of polybrominated diphenal ether (PBDE) by:

(1) Banning the manufacture, processing, or distribution of any product or flame retardant part of a product containing more than one-tenth of one percent of octabrominated diphenal ether (octaBDE), or pentabrominated diphenal ether (pentaBDE), effective January 1, 2008; and

(2) Requesting a Legislative Reference Bureau (LRB) study on policies of other jurisdictions regarding the regulation of PBDE, and recommendations to be submitted to the 2005 Legislature.

Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies and Representatives from the 18th and 19th Representative Districts testified in support of this bill. Bromide Science and Environmental Forum opposed this bill. LRB commented, requesting that the scope of the study not be expanded further than present language requires.

 

Your Committee finds that PBDEs are a group of bromine-based fire retardants, which include octaBDE and pentaBDE. OctaBDE and pentaBDE are used in various products including furniture cushions, car seats, fabrics, and the hard plastic casings of computers, televisions, and stereos. The components of octaBDE and pentaBDE are insoluble and concentrate in the fatty tissue of living organisms. Exposure to PBDEs has been shown to interfere with production of a key hormone that guides brain development, and has resulted in learning, memory, and behavior problems in lab animals.

Increasingly higher levels of PBDEs are being found in the breast milk of American mothers, and the average level in American women is 75 times higher than in European women. Your Committee finds that the European Union has banned the most toxic forms of PBDEs, pentaBDE and octaBDE, beginning in August 2004.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Consumer Protection and Commerce that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 2013 and recommends that it pass Third Reading.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Consumer Protection and Commerce,

 

____________________________

KENNETH T. HIRAKI, Chair