Chicco-Are Phosphate Esters as a Fire Retardant Safe?
So we are onto our next company to find out how safe their seats are when it comes to chemicals-Chicco! We started with Healthycars.org and they have not tested Chicco seats at this point, so we are excited to see their updated results coming soon! So onward to finding out from the company what they say they use in their seats.
Organic Baby University to Chicco:
I am shopping for a car seat and am trying to find out specifically what type of flame retardant you use on your car seats. I do not need to know that you use them, or that they are not brominated, I would to know specifically what you use…chlorinated tris? Phosphate Ethers? What about the plastic? What type do you use? Do your sears contain chlorine? Bromine? Lead?
Thanks so much!
Jennifer
Chicco to Organic Baby University:
Jennifer,
The car seats do not contain bromine, chlorine, mercury or lead.
Subject: RE: Flame Retardants Car Seat; The chemical that is used is phosphate ester.
There is no other treatment to the car seat covers; other than the FR.
Plastics components as follows:
Base: Polypropylene
Handle: Polypropylene
EPS foam: Expanded Polystyrene
The car seats do not contain BFR (penta/octa BDE). Products are tested frequently to ensure this.
The chemical that is used is phosphate ester.
Organic Baby University to Chicco:
I didn’t catch whether you treat the fabric with water or stain resistant chemicals like Teflon…Do you?
That is my last question. Thanks!
Chicco to Organic Baby University:
no, it is not treated for water or stain resistance
Summary
So, good news on the type of plastic used as well as there not being chlorine, bromine or the other chemicals in the seats. We were able to find some of the Chicco seats on the ADAC site that now is testing car seats for pollutants including:
PAHs, phthalates, flame retardants, phenolic compounds, organotin compounds,azo dyes and heavy metals tested and
This is a great site to add to our investigations. You can access this site here. However, these results are ONLY for the parts of the seats that touch the baby. It does not test for flame retardants of other chemicals that could be in the interior foam that may leach out over time. So at Organic Baby University, we will assume a poor result is a poor result. A good result is a good start, but does not completely reassure as that these chemicals are not present. And we need to protect our children from the chemicals in all parts of the seats, not just the parts touching the baby (even though these may be the most important). These results from ADAC for Chicco car seats were quite varied including a “sufficient” rating for the Keyfit (the second lowest score possible just above poor) and a “very good” score for the Eletta. I know the Keyfit is quite popular so these results are disappointing.
NOTE: We will be interested to see what the testing from other 3rd parties reveals as those results become public and will report these as soon as they are available.
But what are phosphate esters? Are they dangerous? Well, here is what we were able to find out:
The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry states Phosphate Esters as flame retardants:
They are considered emering pollutants to the enviroment
There is limited or no information on the toxicity to humans. The studies on lab animals have shown:
Brain and kidney lesions and decreased fertility
Urinary bladder lesions
Liver lesions
Kidney and liver lesions
Increases in cancer- kidney tumors, urinary bladder, liver, testes, and adrenal gland
In animal studies, continuous exposure to some flame retardants caused reductions in live births and reduced pup body weight.
For the full report you can click here
To watch the short Organic Baby Video on CAR SEATS click here!
So, for now, I would not recommend the Chicco brand for a car seat. While may will say that animal studies may not translate into a danger to humans, I say when it comes to the health of our children we should err on the side of caution. For safer choices check out our Orbitbaby review below. It is the ONLY non-toxic seat available at this time. The fabric and foam is Oeko-Tek certified. This guarantees that the seat is free from harmful chemicals.
For the best prices on Orbit Seats click the links below!
Part 5-SUNSHINE KIDS
For more information on the dangers of fire retardants in children’t products
http://www.momsrising.org/blog/flame-retardants-the-asbestos-of-our-time/
http://www.environmentalhealthnews.org/ehs/news/new-flame-retardants-in-baby-items
http://www.emedicinehealth.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=143244
References:
ATSDR – ToxFAQs™: Phosphate Ester Flame Retardants.” ATSDR Home. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 June 2011. <http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/toxfaqs/tf.asp?id=1164&tid=239>.
Thank you so much for providing this service! I’ve been curious about the chemicals in popular baby carriers such as the Beco, Ergo and the like. The manufacturers have been suspiciously quiet in responding to the NYT article, even though they were (however indirectly) named. All of them use poly foam in their straps; if you call they will say there are no fire retardants in their products. Yet they all refuse to respond to emails, almost as if they are avoiding putting anything in writing. This really bothers me since babies literally chew on the straps. Any thoughts?
Thanks for your comment Susan! I find this to be the case with nearly ALL companies regarding ALL chemicals! I send many, many emails before I get responses and almost always have to go back and forth with them many times and speak to supervisors before I get answers. Very time consuming and most moms don’t have time to do this! That is why we do this to save you the time! We are doing a blog on carriers in the next few weeks so I hope this will help shed some light! Thanks for your input and suggestions!
Hi,
I’ve been trying to pick out a car seat that is less toxic and it’s like learning a whole other language. I got this response from Maxi Cosi and asked if they could just list the chemicals they do use. I wasn’t sure if you could help further decipher what she said? Also if you wanted it for another review of a car seat.
Thanks so much for the research you do and writing the blog. It’s a pleasure to read!
Have a great day,
Jen
From: Consumer Relations
To: “‘jennifercally_sorel@yahoo.com’”
Sent: Thursday, June 30, 2011 3:00 PM
Subject: REF#A91 386 285 : Request contact Maxi-Cosi
Dear Valued Consumer,
Thank you for contacting Quinny/Maxi-Cosi. We apologize for any delay in responding to your email.
Our car seat fabrics meet or exceed all government safety standards. We have DJG Policy restricting use of certain FR chemicals (no PENTA, Octa,or DECA PBDE’s, poly brominated diphenyl ethers). The type of FR that is used on our fabrics are the same type that is used on your vehicle interiors.
If you require additional assistance, you can also contact our Consumer Relations Department at 800-951-4113, Monday – Thursday from 8:00 AM – 6:00 PM EST. and Friday 8:00 – 4:30 PM EST.
(Please reply with your original e-mail for better assistance.)
Thanks,
Melissa, CPST
Consumer Specialist
US Quinny/Maxi-Cosi
Hi Jennifer!
Sure I am happy to help!
As with all of these chemical, there becomes sort of a “popular” chemical that gains some attention and then for marketing reasons companies will say they don’t use it. Such as BPA. 70% of plastics labeled BPA free leach hormone disrupting chemicals but BPA has received all of the attention so people think if something is BPA free then it is safe…..as there is a 70% chance it isn’t!
Same with flame retardants. There is a group of flame retardants called halogenated flame retardants or brominated flame retardants that gained all the popularity. Some states began regulating these chemicals so many companies stopped using these…..those stayed in your system for over 47 years and did lots of damage! The problem is that many of the alternatives are not better. However, companies will just say we don’t use these specific types of chemicals to make a consumer believe their products are safe. So basically, this email means nothing. I actually am already working on the Maxi-Cosi one (: Thanks for sending! I have not been able to get much more from them yet as you have which is why I haven’t posted anything yet. I try to wait until I actually have something tangible which can take weeks and months!
I am glad you are enjoying the blogs! These are SO important as kids spend so much time in these seats! Please let me know if I can answer any more questions or help you in the future!
Also can you do me a favor and post this to one of the blogs as a comment? I would love for my other readers to get this insight and exchange if you are open to it!
Jennifer Hankey
President
Organic Baby University
Have you tried to contact Cybex about the Aton car seat? I sent an inquiry, but have not received a response. Sounds like I should try again.
I have actually. I have high hopes about this seat! I am waiting for the person in charge of this information to get back into town. I should have this blog up by next week! Thanks for the request!
Great! Thanks.
i made my own mattress with an ornigac cotton futon mattress cover ($30 for a deep queen, three side zip cover on ebay) and stuffed it with buckwheat hull that i ordered from a local central NY farm (eventually spent a little less than $200 on filling it to the extent i wanted) as the bed is form-fitting, every few nights i level out the buckwheat again i used to have lower back pain sleeping on a Serta pillow-top mattress, but it’s a thing of the past the buckwheat is always a perfect temperature it’s an interesting sensation to sleep on; kinda’ reminds me of nights spent on the beach significant others thought it was strange at first, then came to love it, and it sleeps 3 bodies just fine i have horrible allergies to straw and hay, and i’m unaffected by the buckwheat supposedly it deters bugs too.only downside HEAVY (i think mine is around 300lbs) luckily, just empty the buckwheat into smaller containers or contractor trash bags to move in small loads) my friend was inspired and used a california king-size normal mattress cover and put over 500lbs of buckwheat hull into it it’s a ridiculously oversized bean-bag of a bed, but luxurious to sleep on/in.thought i’d go into business selling these things to others, maybe i will yet, but here’s to everybody else who wants to escape the terrible capitalist machine cheers!!
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This is an old post, but if anyone checks, I was just planning on buying a Chicco since it was one of the best rated car seats on Healthystuff.org. You say Orbit Baby is best, but the one tested in 2011 by healthystuff.org had bromine, lead, etc. Would you still say to get orbit baby? I was planning on splurging on it because they claim to be chemical free but then I saw the results. I am at such a loss of what to do for a car seat. I don’t want to knowingly expose my baby to these chemicals but is there really a good option for a car seat?
Thanks for any help.
Yes I would still buy the Orbit and in fact did! The Healthycars is a great start but there is a lot of questioning about the reliability of their results. What I do is take their results if they are really terrible and avoid those seats, if they are good or medium, I have done more research about the results. For example, Orbitbaby is the ONLY seat on the market that is Oeko-Tek certified to be free of over 100 toxic chemicals including toxic flame retardants. This is a third party, very stringent certification that I give more weight to than the type of testing that Healthycars does. Also, Healthycars says that companies like Chicco are the best, but this is because they seem to not contain the specific ingredients that they test for…and they don’t test for all toxins! Chicco contains phosphates which are toxic as well…but this is not indicated since they don’t test for phosphates. So Healthycars is a great starting point but is not the “end all be all” if you will
so what was the verdict on the cybex aton seat? are they using flame retardants or no? we live in a develop country with these stupid laws of having cancer causing chemicals in our children seat. i might need to import a european child seat which is probably safer then all this crap sold out here.
They are using chemical flame retardants. I did not say they were chemical free, rather they were rated less toxic by a third party. Unfortunately they use the same phosphate based chemicals that many other do.