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Flame retardant alphabet soup – the safety of TCPP

von Thomas G. Osimitz, PhD, A. Wallace Hayes, PhD

Recent literature has raised concerns about the use of tris(2-chloro-1-methylethyl) phosphate (TCPP) in building materials and other products. Often authors who are generally critical of flame retardants frame their concerns by suggesting “there is a general lack of agreement” regarding the safety in use of TCPP or that TCPP is “potentially” a health concern. In many instances rather than citing specific data, structural similarity arguments to other types of organo-phosphorous flame retardants are used to support their conclusions. These articles sometimes leverage the naming of these molecules, while conforming to convention only chemists understand (TCCP, TCEP, TDCPP, TDBPP), to create confusion for other public stakeholders; referring to them as simply “flame retardants” or “tris” and to treat them as identical with respect to their health and environmental properties. At best, this is unwise, as it does not accurately reflect the relative safety profile of these molecules; at worst it leads to market confusion and bad decision making as it relates to public policy.