For decades, Californians, and by extension, Americans, have lived alongside unhealthy flame-retardant chemicals embedded in their furniture, thanks to a few lines in a 1970s state law.
David Volz, University of California, Riverside professor of environmental toxicology, has long studied how those chemicals escape into indoor air and settle in household dust. In the journal Environmental Science and Technology, Volz details the history of flame retardants in our upholstered furniture and argues that lawmakers should close a regulatory gap allowing their use before it’s too late. In this Q&A, he explains why it’s important that they do so.