best practices during the manufacturing process. Communities near electronics factories and disposal facilities, especially areas with little environmental oversight or control, develop high levels of flame retardants in air, soil, water, vegetation, and people. Organophosphorus flame retardants have been detected in wastewater in Spain and Sweden, and some compounds do not appear to be removed thoroughly during water treatment. Organophosphorus flame-retardants were also found in tap and bottled drinking water in China. Likewise in the Elbe river in Germany. Disposal When products with flame retardants reach the end of their usable life, they are typically recycled, incinerated, or landfilled. Recycling can contaminate workers and communities near recycling plants, as well as new materials, with halogenated flame retardants and their breakdown products. Electronic waste, vehicles, and other products are often melted to recycle their metal components, and such heating can generate toxic dioxins and furans. When wearing Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) and when a ventilation system is installed, exposure of workers to dust can be significantly reduced, as shown in the work conducted by the recycling plant Stena-Technoworld AB in Sweden. Brominated flame retardants may also change the physical properties of plastics, resulting in inferior performance in recycled products and in “downcycling” of the materials. It appears that plastics with brominated flame retardants are mingling with flame-retardant-free plastics in the recycling stream and such downcycling is taking place. Poor-quality incineration similarly generates and releases high quantities of toxic degradation products. Controlled incineration of materials with halogenated flame retardants, while costly, substantially reduces release of toxic byproducts. Many products containing halogenated flame retardants are sent to landfills. Additive, as opposed to reactive, flame retardants are not chemically bonded to the base material and leach out more easily. Brominated flame retardants, including PBDEs, have been observed leaching out of landfills in industrial countries, including Canada and South Africa. Some landfill designs allow for leachate capture, which would need to be treated. These designs also degrade with time. Regulatory opposition Shortly after California amended TB117 in 2013 to require only flame-resistant furniture coverings (without restriction on the interior components), furniture manufacturers across the US heard increased demands for flame-retardant-free furniture. Of note, smolder-resistant fabrics used in flame-resistant coverings do not contain PBDEs, organophosphates, or other chemicals historically associated with adverse effects on human health. A number of decision-makers in the health sector - which accounts for nearly 18% of the US GDP - are