Toxic Hot Seat: Putting The Flames Out
This post was written by DOC NYC blogger Jess Gonzalez
What doesn’t burn you just might kill you anyway. The documentary TOXIC HOT SEAT follows the complicated battle between concerned citizens and mega-corporations over the use of cancer-causing flame retardants in American furniture. Directed by James Redford and Kirby Walker, the film saw its theatrical premiere at DOC NYC with a sold-out audience on Tuesday night.
In 1976, a quiet but influential California state law called Technical Bulletin 117 was passed that requires all furniture sold in in the state to contain a certain level of chemical flame retardant. Furniture manufactures began using these chemicals not just in California, but nationwide. Today, everything from couches and cushions to baby strollers and mattresses contain brominated flame retardants (BFRs).
However, these chemicals are poisonous. They have been proven to cause cancer, not only in average citizens and their children, but also the firefighters who battle blazes that the chemicals were supposed to deter in the first place. And they’ve been found in our breast milk and the very air we breathe.
“There is not that much awareness,” said Karen Kerr Stone of the San Francisco Fire Department, a subject from the film who was at the post-screening Q&A. “I think our assumption is that [firefighters] are being looked after because we look after everyone else. That is not the case.”
The Chicago Tribune unearthed the details of the hazards posed by the chemicals in an award-winning investigative series in 2012. Legislation promoting the use of BFRs misrepresented studies in order to make the measure hard to fight against. After all, who would argue against fire safety? Those who did so over the years met the wrath of politicians whose pockets were conveniently lined by the chemical companies themselves.
“It’s a battle on the state level. It’s a battle on the national level,” said Tony Stefani, a film subject and retired San Francisco Fire Department captain who was diagnosed with cancer after years of inhaling a toxic soup of burning BFRs. “With the help of Kirby and Jamie, [TOXIC HOT SEAT] is going to put a spotlight on what’s going on in our profession and what’s going on in the lives of our children and our families.”
DOC NYC Artistic Director Thom Powers led the Q&A, and the question on many viewers’ minds was clear—what can we do to protect ourselves? Legislation reform passed that will no longer require the use of flame retardants in furniture as of 2014, but it will ultimately be up to the manufacturers to decide whether they will change their ways.
“If everybody that went to the store… simply brought a piece of furniture that wasn’t toxic, in 30 years from now, our children and grandchildren will be living in a less toxic environment,” said Redford. “The consumers can speak with their wallets and they can make the difference.”
TOXIC HOT SEAT is scheduled to premiere on HBO on November 25 at 9pm ET.
