"Toxic Flame Retardants May Be on Way Out"

A new California rule may herald the end of toxic flame-retardant chemicals in furniture.

"For decades, U.S. manufacturers have filled upholstered furniture with pounds of toxic chemicals to comply with a flammability standard set by a single state, California.

The obscure rule, known as Technical Bulletin 117, brought flame retardants into homes across the country. American babies came to be born with the highest recorded average concentrations of the chemicals among any infants in the world.

But on Thursday, California threw out the 38-year-old rule and approved a new one that furniture manufacturers can meet without using flame retardants."

Michael Hawthorne and Sam Roe report for the Chicago Tribune November 22, 2013.