AUGUSTA – The Senate approved a bill Thursday that would ban the flame retardant decaBDE from furniture, and phase out the use of the chemical in electronics by 2010.

The chemical is an additive to plastics and furniture, and environmental officials say it can harm the reproductive system and growing fetuses.

“With this bipartisan vote to ban deca, Maine’s Legislature is poised to protect the health of Maine families and our environment from this pervasive toxic chemical,” said Matt Prindiville, Toxics Project director for the Natural Resources Council of Maine.

The bill passed in the House on May 16 with no debate or objection, but did not fly through the Senate quite so easily. The measure passed 29-5, with one senator giving lengthy remarks in opposition, and several speaking in strong support. The bill next goes back to the House, and then to the Senate again, to be enacted.

During the debate, Sen. Philip Bartlett II, D-Gorham, noted that no Maine business opposed the bill. Firefighters, he said, strongly supported it.

Sen. Douglas Smith, R-Dover-Foxcroft, urged the Senate to vote against the bill. Deca is the most effective flame retardant, he said, and the data demonstrating health risks is unverifiable.

No other state has banned the chemical, Smith said, and within a year, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will have more information on the chemical’s effects.

“Before we create a fire-safety crisis that will be a throwback to the 1930s, we should take the time to fully analyze all the data that will soon be available to the entire country,” Smith said.

Proponents of the bill said an alternative flame retardant, RDP, has equal benefits without the health risks, and companies have already started using it instead of deca.

After the debate, legislators and proponents of the bill congratulated and thanked House Majority Leader Hannah Pingree, D-North Haven, and the bill’s sponsor.

Pingree had pushed the bill full force, despite public opposition from the chemical companies, after medical professionals found high levels of deca in her body in a study sponsored by Natural Resources Council of Maine.

Sen. Dana Dow, R-Waldoboro, and furniture business owner, is the lead Republican sponsor of the bill.

The mattress industry has already stopped using deca, he said. Bartlett also noted that electronics companies are also finding alternatives.

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