WHEREAS, decabromodiphenylether is a chemical flame retardant that is widely used in household products such as television sets and upholstered sofas even though it has not been proven safe to humans; and

WHEREAS, decabromodiphenylether is added to consumer products like computers, televisions, curtains, upholstered furniture, and carpet as flame retardants, after which it leaches out of these products and into the environment, accumulating in our bodies, food, homes, office, water, and land; and

WHEREAS, preliminary studies suggest that exposure to decabromodiphenylether may pose health risks to the thyroid, the liver, the reproductive system, and the neurological system; and

WHEREAS, decabromodiphenylether is the only polybrominated diphenyl ether remaining on the local market, following the Legislature's 2004 ban on two other polybrominated diphenyl ethers; and

WHEREAS, nonetheless, when it enters the environment, decabromodiphenylether has the capacity to break down through biological processes or sunlight into the polybrominated diphenyl ether cogeners that are predominately found in the two now prohibited polybrominated diphenyl ethers; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-third Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2006, that the Department of Health is respectfully requested to determine whether there are safer, technically feasible alternatives to the use of decabromodiphenylether in consumer products; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Department of Health is requested to submit findings and recommendations, including any proposed legislation, to the Legislature not later than twenty days before the convening of the Regular Session of 2007; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a certified copy of this Resolution be transmitted to the Director of Health.

Report Title:

Decabromodiphenylether