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Litigious environment causes companies to "over protect" consumers with such chemicals, causing all kinds of unexpected issues.

rlt 6y ago
Will humans ever learn the law of unintended consequences?
- taneq 6y ago
  You mean that there are always unintended consequences of every action and so you just have to do the best you can with what you know?
  - calvano915 6y ago
    Its fine to act with limited information but not acceptable to stop paying attention until a problem becomes orders of magnitude worse than if you'd closely monitored the intended and unintended effects from your actions.
- anigbrowl 6y ago
  Somehow 'sofas light on fire and burn like a torch' isn't an unintended consequence of using cheap materials?
ddeck 6y ago
The lobbying efforts of the manufacturers of the chemicals are a major contributor: The legislators wrote that the “worst tactics outlined in the Chicago Tribune series — which we each saw some of firsthand in our states — included: deliberately misrepresenting the science around flame retardant chemicals relating to both their effectiveness and their health risks; employing an expert witness who repeatedly invoked a phony story of a child dying in a fire in order to justify flame retardant mandates; creating a front group called ‘Citizens for Fire Safety’ to counter the opposition to flame retardants among firefighters and health organizations; and using racial profiling to mislead community leaders about the impacts of toxic flame retardant chemicals.” ... These powerful industries distorted science in ways that overstated the benefits of the chemicals, created a phony consumer watchdog group that stoked the public's fear of fire and helped organize and steer an association of top fire officials that spent more than a decade campaigning for their cause. http://media.apps.chicagotribune.com/flames/index.html http://media.apps.chicagotribune.com/flames/index.html

rlt 6y ago

Will humans ever learn the law of unintended consequences?

taneq 6y ago
You mean that there are always unintended consequences of every action and so you just have to do the best you can with what you know?
- calvano915 6y ago
  Its fine to act with limited information but not acceptable to stop paying attention until a problem becomes orders of magnitude worse than if you'd closely monitored the intended and unintended effects from your actions.
anigbrowl 6y ago
Somehow 'sofas light on fire and burn like a torch' isn't an unintended consequence of using cheap materials?

ddeck 6y ago

The lobbying efforts of the manufacturers of the chemicals are a major contributor: The legislators wrote that the “worst tactics outlined in the Chicago Tribune series — which we each saw some of firsthand in our states — included: deliberately misrepresenting the science around flame retardant chemicals relating to both their effectiveness and their health risks; employing an expert witness who repeatedly invoked a phony story of a child dying in a fire in order to justify flame retardant mandates; creating a front group called ‘Citizens for Fire Safety’ to counter the opposition to flame retardants among firefighters and health organizations; and using racial profiling to mislead community leaders about the impacts of toxic flame retardant chemicals.” ... These powerful industries distorted science in ways that overstated the benefits of the chemicals, created a phony consumer watchdog group that stoked the public's fear of fire and helped organize and steer an association of top fire officials that spent more than a decade campaigning for their cause. http://media.apps.chicagotribune.com/flames/index.html http://media.apps.chicagotribune.com/flames/index.html