At a glance
| What this is | The world's highest-volume brominated flame retardant — a brominated relative of BPA; used in electronics (circuit boards, housings), furniture, textiles and plastics |
| CAS number | 79-94-7 |
| Carcinogen status | IARC Group 2A — probably carcinogenic (Vol. 115, 2018; upgraded on strong mechanistic evidence). Also a documented endocrine disruptor |
| Where you encounter it | Electronics, upholstered furniture, textiles and plastics — and the house dust they shed it into |
| How it reaches you | Mainly dust ingestion (and diet); also dermal contact with bedding/furniture, inhalation, prenatally and via breast milk |
| Sleep micro-environment relevance | Ubiquitous in indoor dust including bedroom dust, where bedding has been identified as a crucial source |
| Regulation | Fewer outright bans than the PBDEs despite its Group 2A status; REACH-assessed, EFSA food TDI set; restriction pressure rising |
Regulatory & certification status
Where tbbpa stands across the major regulatory systems and the certifications a bedroom product might carry. Each row links to the governing instrument; where a jurisdiction has no specific measure, that is stated plainly rather than left blank.
| European Union | REACH: identified as a Substance of Very High Concern on the ECHA Candidate List since 17 January 2023 (Article 57(a), carcinogenicity; CAS 79-94-7); no evidence found of it being added to the Authorisation List (Annex XIV). Harmonised CLP classification is Carc. 1B (H350) plus Aquatic Acute 1 and Aquatic Chronic 1 (H400/H410, M-factor 10 for acute toxicity) via the 21st ATP, Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2024/197, applicable from 1 September 2025 -- confirmed directly against the regulation's own Annex VI entry for CAS 79-94-7. A REACH Annex XVII restriction on CMR substances (entries 28-30; TBBPA added to Appendix 2, the Category 1B carcinogens list, restricting placing on the market/supply to the general public above the classification threshold) was separately added via Commission Regulation (EU) 2025/1731, also applicable from 1 September 2025 -- confirmed directly against that regulation's text, which quotes CAS 79-94-7 verbatim. Not listed under the EU POPs Regulation (EU) 2019/1021; TBBPA does not appear among the Stockholm Convention substances that regulation implements. Regulatory — ECHA · EUR-Lex |
| United States | TSCA: EPA designated TBBPA a High-Priority Substance effective 20 December 2019. Its draft risk evaluation, published for public comment in June 2026 (Federal Register notice of 16 June 2026), found unreasonable risk to workers from inhalation exposure (3 conditions of use) and to the environment from surface-water releases during certain processing/disposal activities (2 conditions of use), but did not find unreasonable risk to consumers or the general population -- confirmed verbatim against EPA's own release; comments are due 17 August 2026 and the evaluation is not yet final. Separately, California OEHHA lists TBBPA on the Proposition 65 list as known to cause cancer, effective 27 October 2017, via the 'Labor Code-International Agency for Research on Cancer' listing mechanism -- confirmed against OEHHA's own chemical page. California's AB 2998 caps 'covered flame retardant chemicals' -- defined in the bill as halogenated (chlorine- or bromine-bonded), organophosphorus, organonitrogen or nanoscale chemicals used for fire resistance, a class that would capture TBBPA -- at 1,000 ppm in new mattresses, juvenile products and upholstered furniture sold in California after 31 December 2019. Correction: the bill's own text does not use the term 'organohalogen flame retardant' or name TBBPA specifically; that framing comes from a 2017 CPSC guidance document about the class, not the statute itself. Regulatory — US EPA |
| Canada | Environment and Climate Change Canada's final CEPA screening assessment (published in the Canada Gazette, Part I, 30 November 2013) concluded that TBBPA and two of its derivative substances do not meet the toxicity criteria in section 64 of CEPA 1999 -- reversing the draft assessment's proposed conclusion after new exposure data was submitted during the public comment period. The final assessment found TBBPA meets the persistence criterion (in water, soil, sediment and air) but does not meet the bioaccumulation criterion under Canada's Persistence and Bioaccumulation Regulations. No subsequent Chemicals Management Plan re-assessment was identified. Regulatory — Government of Canada |
| Australia | Assessed by the former NICNAS as Priority Existing Chemical Report No. 42 (declared a Priority Existing Chemical in 2005; full assessment report published May 2020, now hosted by successor agency AICIS), which classified TBBPA as a Category 2 carcinogen (H351, suspected of causing cancer) under Australia's GHS-based hazard classification, while finding no reproductive/developmental effects at doses up to 1,000 mg/kg bw/day in the studies reviewed and low estimated consumer dermal exposure. This is a hazard-classification/assessment outcome rather than a use ban -- no AICIS-specific import or use restriction on TBBPA was identified, and it is not among the Rotterdam/Stockholm Convention chemicals AICIS separately controls. Regulatory — AICIS |
| United Kingdom | HSE ran a public consultation (11 March-20 April 2026, ref. svhc-009) proposing TBBPA for the UK REACH Candidate List, mirroring its 2023 EU SVHC listing. Multiple regulatory trade-press sources consistently report that HSE formally added TBBPA, in a batch of 15 substances, to the UK REACH Candidate List on 15 June 2026, but this could not be independently confirmed against HSE's own published Candidate List within this review. GB CLP is reported to carry an equivalent Carc. 1B classification, tracking the EU update, but this was likewise not independently confirmed against a primary GB CLP source. Regulatory — HSE -- UK REACH SVHC consu · HSE |
| International | Not a Stockholm Convention POP: TBBPA does not appear in Annex A, B or C of the Convention, confirmed directly against the Secretariat's own list of all listed POPs -- it should not be confused with hexabromobiphenyl (HBB), a different brominated flame retardant that was added to Annex A in 2009. No active POP Review Committee (POPRC) listing proposal for TBBPA was identified. IARC classified TBBPA as Group 2A, 'probably carcinogenic to humans' (IARC Monographs Volume 115; Working Group meeting held 2-9 February 2016; monograph published online in 2018), based on sufficient evidence of carcinogenicity in animal studies plus strong mechanistic evidence (receptor-mediated effects, oxidative stress, immunosuppression). Regulatory — Stockholm Convention · IARC |
| Certifications | CertiPUR-US's technical guidelines prohibit foam containing PBDE, TDCPP, TCEP, TEPA or TDBPP flame retardants by name, plus separately exclude any additive classified as a carcinogen, mutagen or reproductive toxicant by GHS; TBBPA is not on the named list but would likely be excluded under the general CMR clause given its Carc. 1B classification. In practice this is largely moot: TBBPA's dominant use is as a reactive flame retardant in epoxy circuit-board resin, with secondary use as an additive in rigid plastics (ABS, HIPS) and rigid polyurethane foam -- not the flexible polyurethane foam CertiPUR-US certifies. OEKO-TEX Standard 100 restricts flame retardants as a substance class (most are forbidden unless separately pre-approved on its Active Chemical Products list), which would functionally cover TBBPA, but a TBBPA-specific published limit value in the Standard 100 annexes could not be confirmed. GREENGUARD/GREENGUARD Gold is a low-VOC air-emissions certification (CDPH/California Section 01350 chamber method); its required analyte list targets volatile compounds and explicitly excludes semi-volatile substances such as phthalate plasticizers, so a low-volatility additive like TBBPA would not be reliably captured by this method either. Industry — CertiPUR-US · OEKO-TEX |
| The 72-hour test window | Largely missed. TBBPA has an extremely low vapor pressure -- published values vary widely by measurement method, from roughly 1x10^-5 Pa at 20C down to about 8x10^-9 Pa extrapolated to 25C -- and is lipophilic (log Kow reported in the range of about 4.5 to 6.5, pH-dependent; a commonly cited central estimate is 5.9). It is a reactive/additive SVOC used mainly in circuit-board epoxy resin and rigid plastics that sorbs to particles and migrates into house dust rather than off-gassing as a vapor, so a short chamber VOC-emissions test does not reliably capture it. Inferred — from the compound's volatility/emission profile versus the VOC focus of short chamber tests |
What it is
TBBPA is bisphenol A with four bromine atoms attached — and the single most-used brominated flame retardant in the world. Its dominant application is electronics: it is built into printed circuit boards and the plastic housings of devices, and it is also used in furniture, textiles and other plastics. Peer-reviewed — Feiteiro et al. 2021 That sheer scale of use is why it is now, in the words of the review literature, a "ubiquitous contaminant" detected in almost every environmental compartment. Peer-reviewed — Abdallah 2016
On hazard, the verdict tightened in 2018. The International Agency for Research on Cancer classified TBBPA as Group 2A, probably carcinogenic to humans — inadequate human evidence and sufficient animal evidence, upgraded by a majority of the Working Group on strong mechanistic grounds: it modulates hormone receptors (thyroid, PPAR-γ), induces oxidative stress, and causes immunosuppression. Regulatory — IARC Monographs Vol. 115, TBBPA — Group 2A
How it relates to the bedroom
The route: dust, and bedding itself
Like the other brominated flame retardants, TBBPA does not stay locked in the product — it migrates out and collects in house dust, and dust ingestion (with diet) is the major exposure pathway for the general population. Peer-reviewed — Abdallah 2016 The bedroom-specific evidence is pointed: a study measuring brominated flame retardants in bedroom dust found a significant correlation between levels in windowsill dust and in bedding dust, concluding that bedding was one of the crucial sources of these retardants in bedrooms — and flagged dermal contact with bedding and furniture, on top of dust ingestion, as an exposure route. Peer-reviewed — Wang et al. 2023
Who is most exposed
The same pattern recurs across countries: toddlers and infants are the most exposed, because they spend time close to the floor and put their hands in their mouths, and exposure can also occur prenatally and through breast milk. Peer-reviewed — Abdallah 2016 For a chemical that disrupts thyroid signalling — central to development — that age skew is the part worth taking seriously.
Keeping it in proportion
Honesty cuts both ways here. TBBPA is metabolised and excreted relatively quickly in humans, and several exposure assessments — including for the general population — estimate intakes below toxicological reference values, so some reviewers regard ordinary exposure as low-risk. Peer-reviewed — Feiteiro et al. 2021 (toxicity review noting both effects and rapid metabolism) The countervailing facts are its Group 2A classification, its endocrine activity, the developmental-window concern for the youngest, and its sheer ubiquity. The reasonable reading is a real, broadly low-level exposure that is worth reducing — especially in a nursery — rather than a crisis.
The regulatory picture — worldwide
TBBPA is a study in regulatory lag: enormous use, a Group 2A classification, and yet far fewer outright bans than the PBDEs that are chemically less dominant.
Carcinogen and endocrine classification. The 2018 IARC Group 2A evaluation is the anchor, alongside extensive endocrine-disruption evidence that feeds EU and other endocrine-screening programmes. Regulatory — IARC Vol. 115 (Group 2A)
European Union. TBBPA has been assessed under REACH, and the European Food Safety Authority set a tolerable daily intake for dietary exposure; it appears on substance-evaluation and watch lists, but there has been no broad EU production ban to date. Regulatory — EU REACH substance evaluation; EFSA dietary tolerable daily intake for TBBPA
United States and elsewhere. TBBPA is covered by chemical-inventory and reporting frameworks (TSCA) and is monitored in biomonitoring and dust studies internationally, but, like the EU, the US has not broadly restricted it. Regulatory — US TSCA inventory/reporting; international biomonitoring
Where it is heading. The combination of Group 2A status, endocrine activity, and the broader regulatory move away from added halogenated flame retardants (e.g. California's furniture/mattress flame-retardant restrictions) points toward tightening control and substitution — the same path the PBDEs took. Regulatory — California flame-retardant restrictions (AB 2998) & the general shift away from added halogenated FRs
What the research says
- IARC Group 2A. Probably carcinogenic; upgraded on receptor, oxidative-stress and immunosuppression mechanisms. Regulatory — IARC Vol. 115
- World's most-used brominated FR. Dominant in electronics; also furniture/textiles. Peer-reviewed — Abdallah 2016; Feiteiro et al. 2021
- In bedroom dust; bedding a source. Brominated FRs in bedding dust correlated with room dust. Peer-reviewed — Wang et al. 2023
- Endocrine disruptor; toddlers most exposed. Thyroid/PPAR-γ activity; dust ingestion skews young. Peer-reviewed — Feiteiro et al. 2021; Abdallah 2016
What helps reduce it
Control dust. HEPA vacuuming, damp-dusting and hand-washing (especially children's) before eating measurably lower brominated-FR dust exposure — the main route. Peer-reviewed — Abdallah 2016 (dust ingestion the major pathway)
Favour flame-retardant-free furnishings. Mattresses and furniture meeting flammability standards with an inherent barrier rather than added halogenated FRs avoid this chemistry. Regulatory — CA AB 2998 / FR-free compliance routes
Keep electronics out of the immediate sleep zone. Electronics are the dominant TBBPA reservoir; minimising them in the bedroom — especially a nursery — reduces the local source. Peer-reviewed — Feiteiro et al. 2021 (electronics a primary use)
What does NOT help
- Assuming "BPA-free" covers it. TBBPA is a different, brominated chemical with its own profile; BPA-free labels say nothing about it. Inferred
- Air filtration alone. TBBPA rides on settled dust and is contacted via bedding; vacuuming and damp-dusting matter more. Inferred
Open research questions
- The developmental significance of low-level TBBPA exposure during pregnancy and infancy, given its thyroid activity. Speculation
- How much bedroom bedding and furniture, versus electronics, contribute to a sleeper's TBBPA dust exposure. Speculation
- Whether its Group 2A status will finally drive the restrictions its scale of use has so far escaped. Speculation
The Embr Exposure Ledger: Tetrabromobisphenol A (TBBPA)
One chemical, several public questions, answered from independent datasets and joined here — the environment it shows up in, the body burden it carries, how it is regulated, and what actually reduces it.
Detection and body-burden figures are occurrence data, not a personal measurement or a health diagnosis. Part of the Embr Exposure Ledger — an open, cross-dataset chemical join (download the data), reusable with attribution.
Citations
- IARC Monographs Vol. 115 (2018). Tetrabromobisphenol A — Evaluation. Group 2A; inadequate human, sufficient animal, strong mechanistic evidence (receptor modulation, oxidative stress, immunosuppression). NCBI Bookshelf NBK506734 Regulatory
- Abdallah MA-E (2016). Environmental occurrence, analysis and human exposure to TBBP-A — a review. Environ. Int. HPV FR in circuit boards; ubiquitous; dust ingestion + diet major pathways; toddlers more exposed. Via Consensus. DOI 10.1016/j.envint.2016.05.026 Peer-reviewed
- Wang Junchang, et al. (2023). HBCDs and TBBPA in indoor dust from different microenvironments. Environ. Geochem. Health. Bedding a crucial source of brominated FRs in bedrooms; dermal contact with bedding/furniture an exposure route. Via Consensus. DOI 10.1007/s10653-023-01620-w Peer-reviewed
- Feiteiro J, et al. (2021). Health toxicity effects of brominated flame retardants. Environ. Pollut. TBBPA in furniture/textiles/electronics; endocrine disruptor; thyroid/repro/immune effects; rapid human metabolism. Via Consensus. DOI 10.1016/j.envpol.2021.117475 Peer-reviewed
Frequently asked questions
What is TBBPA?
Tetrabromobisphenol A (TBBPA) is the most-used brominated flame retardant in the world. Its biggest use is in the circuit boards and plastic housings of electronics, but it is also used in furniture, textiles and other plastics. It is a brominated cousin of BPA, and like the rest of this family it is added to materials to slow ignition. Its scale of use is what makes it matter: it has been detected in almost every environmental compartment, and in indoor dust nearly everywhere it has been looked for.
Is TBBPA a carcinogen?
Yes, probably. The International Agency for Research on Cancer classifies TBBPA as Group 2A, probably carcinogenic to humans. Human evidence was inadequate, but there was sufficient evidence in animals, and a majority of the Working Group upgraded it to 2A on strong mechanistic evidence: TBBPA modulates hormone receptors (including thyroid and PPAR-γ), induces oxidative stress, and causes immunosuppression — all recognised characteristics of carcinogens. It is also a well-documented endocrine disruptor.
Why does it matter in the bedroom?
Because, like the other brominated flame retardants, it migrates out of the products it is added to and accumulates in house dust — and that includes the bedroom. One study measuring brominated flame retardants in bedroom dust found that bedding was one of the crucial sources, and flagged dermal contact with bedding and furniture, on top of dust ingestion, as an exposure route. Across many countries, dust ingestion is a major exposure pathway, and toddlers — who spend time on the floor and put hands in mouths — are consistently the most exposed group.
How is it regulated?
Unevenly, and that is part of the story. Despite its scale and its IARC Group 2A status, TBBPA has historically faced fewer outright bans than the PBDEs, and there have been no broad production restrictions in the EU or worldwide. The EU has assessed it under REACH and set a food tolerable daily intake via EFSA; it is on various watch and reporting lists; and its endocrine and carcinogen classifications increasingly feed into restriction pressure. The trajectory, as with the other brominated retardants, is toward tighter control and substitution.
Related compounds
Embr is a sleep environment company researching and addressing the chemistry of the bedroom. Research and product development in progress. This page is informational and is not medical advice.
Last reviewed 2026-06-29. If you find a factual error, contact us.