◼ Krypton $3 / liter 200-liter cylinderflame retardants increased steadily
during that time, however, and in 2008
she returned to science, founding the
Green Science Policy Institute. Her
advocacy paid off in 2017, when the U.S.
Consumer Product Safety Commission
issued what seemed like a blow to the
chemical industry, voting to ban organo-
halogen flame retardants—those con-
taining bromine and chlorine. It also
recommended that consumers ask
retailers for products without them.
The commission made one exception:
flame retardants that used polymers,
atom chains that form larger molecules.
At the International Code Council
meeting, held in a hotel in Albuquerque,
Blum was backing a resolution that would
give architects and builders the right to
install polystyrene insulation without
flame retardants beneath foundations.
Clipboard in hand, she squinted through
her purple-framed glasses at the panelists
and said that using these chemicals in
insulation doesn’t improve fire safety.“This is corroborated in Norway,
Sweden, Finland, and Spain, where
flame-retardant-free insulation has been
widely used without incident for as long
as 18 years,” she said. Architects, fire and
combustion scientists, and a representa-
tive from the International Association
of Firefighters also spoke in support of
the measure. They argued that flame
retardants get into human blood and are
linked to health problems in firefighters
and the general population, and in insula-
tion they don’t even seem to delay blazes.
Then came the Energy Efficient Foam
Coalition, the North American Flame
Retardant Alliance, and representa-
tives from DuPont and Owens Corning,
all saying that newer, polymer-based
flame retardants are different. “It’s guilt
by association. They are taking all flame
retardants and trying to say it’s all bad,”
said John O’Connor, a toxicologist with
DuPont. As it came time to vote, a panel
member who’d been a firefighter became
choked up. “We’re losing too manyfirefighters. We’re losing too many young
firefighters,” he said, eyes shining with
tears. The council agreed with the indus-
try, rejecting in a 10-to-1 vote the resolu-
tion Blum and others were supporting.
And so she has more mountains to
climb. Blum is concerned not only about
flame retardants in buildings but also
that the “bigger is better” logic of poly-
mers will see the retardants applied once
again to items such as clothing. Although
she acknowledges that polymers are less
likely to get into human cells, she says the
risk increases when they’re used in close
contact with skin. Israel Chemicals Ltd.,
which has a concession on the Dead Sea
and makes about a third of the world’s
bromine, has already said in regulatory
filings that it’s developed polymeric for-
mulations not only for insulation and cir-
cuit boards, but for textiles. “Polymers
are better, but not completely safe,
because they can break down into mono-
mers,” Blum says. “And I never met a
brominated monomer that I like.” <BW>Choy Chun Wa, 52, has been
working alongside a master neon
maker, 78-year-old Wong Kin Wah,
for three decades. He mostly
focuses on finishing the signs.
Choy says he worries constantly
that the factory in China that
produces the glass tubes will stop
making them because of lack
of demand. “The future doesn’t
look good,” he says. “The biggest
threat to our business without a
doubt is LEDs.”
Wong’s business, in the city’s
Mong Kok neighborhood, once
included a team of assistants to
keep up with demand; in the 1980s
he even had a contract to make
signs for the local Kentucky Fried
Chicken franchises.
Today there are fewer than a
dozen neon masters like Wong
still in business. “I don’t know any
young people at all who are doing
this work,” Wong says.36
Kr
Krypton HONG KONG LIGHTSAside from lighting, krypton
doesn’t have any commercial
uses. It emits a yellow-white
color, but the gas isn’t typically
used for the color. Krypton
is found in airport approach
lights and, less frequently,
in neon signs.Photographs and text by Tommy Trenchard44
Bloomberg Businessweek / SEPTEMBER 2, 2019THE ELEMENTS