Minnesota furniture retailers have until Dec. 21 to ask to be included in a free and voluntary product-testing program for regulated flame retardants. The offer was issued in October by state government’s Chemicals in Products Interagency Team.
“The CPI Team is offering assistance with testing a selection of your products for levels of restricted flame retardants in advance of a July 1, 2019, deadline that those flame-retardants be under 1,000 parts per million in furniture and children’s products sold by retailers in Minnesota,” the state notice said.
Four chemicals deemed to be potentially hazardous are covered.
The benefits of seeking the testing, according to the state, include verifying compliance of some products before the July 1, 2019, deadline, and generating “positive word-of-mouth from customers to potential future customers.”
Test results would be considered public records, Michelle Gin with the Health Risk Intervention Unit of the Minnesota Department of Health told the HFA. Results would not be posted on a state website, she said, but they would be made available to anyone upon request.
Retailers who request testing should consider whether they would want the results to be made public.
For more information about the program, or to apply, they can contact Michelle Gin of the Minnesota Department of Health at 651-201-4825.
