California: "Law May Cut Use of Flame Retardants in Buildings"

"Gov. Jerry Brown has signed a law that may lead to a change in state building standards that would discourage the use of potentially hazardous flame-retardant chemicals."

"Because of laws passed in the 1970s, the walls of many homes and workplaces built since then contain foam insulation doused with flame retardants.

The new law, authored by Assemblywoman Nancy Skinner, D-Berkeley, and signed last week, asks the state Fire Marshal and the Building Standards Commission to review California's flammability standards for those insulation materials."

Stephanie M. Lee reports for the San Francisco Chronicle October 8, 2013.