Health Canada Provides Update On Flame Retardants In Tents

We wrote about Health Canada reassessing the use of flame retardants in tents way back in 2019. Essentially, to help protect Canadians from injuries or deaths the Tents Regulations was created under the Canada Consumer Product Safety Act (CCPSA) back in 1998. Considering that most modern tents have flame retardants added to the material to prevent accidental fires… some tests are showing that these retardants are quite toxic and contain/produce known carcinogens. Health Canada agreed to consult with Canadians and key stakeholders on a proposal to amend the Tents Regulations and years later, a decision has finally been reached.

It was agreed that the Tents Regulations incorporated an “outdated industry standard” so Health Canada is introducing new regulations under the CCPSA with the same name (the Tents Regulations or the Regulations) which address the issue of flammability performance and fire-safety labelling requirements. These changes will reduce the regulatory burden for industry and benefit people in Canada by reducing the need for manufacturers to apply flame retardant chemicals to their products while improving upon the test methodology used to assess tent flammability performance.

While testing was limited to the samples provided, the test data indicated that most untreated fabrics were able to pass the performance criteria. In Health Canada’s opinion, most tent products could meet the flammability performance provisions of the CGSB standard without reliance on the use of flame retardant chemicals.