§ Mr. Crowtherasked the Secretary of State for Trade what steps are being taken to enforce the safety regulations, including the attachment of warning labels, relating to the use of polyurethane foam in furniture manufacture.
§ Mr. Sally OppenheimI refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave to the hon. Member for Norwood (Mr. Fraser) on 13 April.
§ Mr. Crowtherasked the Secretary of State for Trade if he can report any progress on the development of less toxic materials as an alternative to the use of polyurethane foam in domestic furniture and in aircraft furnishings.
§ Mrs. Sally OppenheimI assume that the hon. Member is referring to the toxic fumes in the smoke produced by polyurethane foam if it catches fire. As I indicated in my reply to my hon. Friend the Member for Eastleigh (Sir D. Price) on 4 March—[Vol. 1000, c. 112]—research by industry into safer alternative fillings for domestic furniture is continuing. Some of the results show that the generation of smoke and toxic fumes and their nature depend to a considerable extent on the other upholstery materials with which the filling is used. Many smoke suppressants have been identified and I understand these are to be studied in further tests. However, the possibilities for their technical, and even more their commercial, exploitation cannot be forecast at present.
Much progress, mostly in the United States of America, has been made in the development of less flammable upholstery materals for aircraft furnishings, which would also produce less smoke and toxic fumes once they had caught fire than those currently in use. There are, however, many technical problems to be solved in the manufacture of such materials in quantity. It may be some time before they become available for use even on aircraft.