The National Fire Agency (NFA) should set an end date for the use of crystalline-free silica in fire extinguishers, New Power Party Chairwoman Chen Jiau-hua (陳椒華) said on Thursday.
The agency has no regulations in place to control the use of the substance and verify safety data sheets submitted by manufacturers, Chen told a news conference that she held jointly with the Fire Extinguisher Manufacturing and Agent Recharging Industry Union and the Taiwan Water Resource Conservation Union.
Fire extinguisher union president Liao Wei-jen (廖偉任) said that phasing out the substance would pose no great challenge to manufacturers, as only four out of 15 companies produce fire extinguishers using crystalline-free silica.
Photo: Peter Lo, Taipei Times
Liao urged the agency to draw up regulations that ban the use of the substance to safeguard the health of manufacturers and firefighters.
Extinguishers using certified agents cost three times as much as those with non-certified agents, and phasing out the substance would improve the price-to-value ratio of fire extinguishers, Liao said.
NFA official Shen Yi-che (沈義哲) said that the agency on Oct. 12 sent a formal letter to authorities to step up verification of safety data sheets.
The US, Europe and Japan do not ban the use of crystalline-free silica in fire extinguishers, and Taiwan seeks to maintain the same standards as the global community, Shen said.
Chen said that the Environmental Protection Administration’s (EPA) certification standards demand that fire extinguisher agents should not contain substances that are highly toxic, have long-term effects on aquatic animals or are listed in the Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals.
However, some manufacturers have not provided data on the toxicity and ecological impact of their products, she said, adding that the EPA’s review procedure was flawed.
Liao said that third-party testing providers might have intentionally delivered false results.
EPA official Wu Ling-chu (吳鈴筑) said that manufacturers did not have to prove that their products did not contain crystalline-free silica.
However, all EPA tests of fire extinguishers for the substance have shown negative results, Wu said, adding that between June and August, three companies had been inspected.
Chen said that all dry-powder extinguishers should undergo inspection, and manufacturers should deliver new data to the EPA and the Fire Extinguisher Union to verify that their products fulfill certification standards.
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