Best Buy has announced a major new commitment to safer products: all newly designed models of Best Buy’s Exclusive Brand televisions will no longer contain toxic organohalogen flame retardants (OFRs) in the display enclosures and stands, starting this year.
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Companies put toxic chemicals in TVs. A new study confirms they’re contaminating our homes.
A new study has found that homes with TVs had higher levels of two toxic flame retardant chemicals. This adds to existing evidence that when companies put these chemicals into the TVs they sell, the sets shed them into our homes. It underscores the need for major electronics retailers like Best Buy and Amazon to prevent harm and ban these chemicals in TVs.
Toxic TVs: Best Buy’s step in the right direction should go further
Best Buy launched a chemicals policy in 2017 but didn’t publish the list of chemicals it is restricting until recently. While a step in the right direction, the list of chemicals does not go far enough — it is woefully inadequate in addressing harmful flame retardants and other toxics. In the year ahead, Best Buy must significantly expand its list of restricted chemicals and ban toxic flame retardants in the enclosures of all televisions it sells.