Reply on behalf of the Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI) regarding presence of cancer causing chemicals in cars, 06/12/2024
Reply on behalf of the Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI) in response to the National Green Tribunal (NGT) order September 12, 2024.
The matter related to the news item titled "People are breathing in cancer-causing chemicals in their cars study find" appearing in NDTV.com dated May 8, 2024.
ARAI is in the business of testing and certification of vehicles. The tests are carried out in compliance to the provisions of the rules and regulations as well as standards as notified and as applicable for type of vehicles and vehicle components at the time of such testing and certification.
ARAI is conducting flammability testing of polymers used in interior of vehicles as per the requirement of various standards. The test involves burning of a sample and measuring burn rate in millimeters for comparing it with the permissible limits. However, the above standards do not specify the flame retardant chemicals/additives to be used in the material for making it flame resistant. As far as testing of flame resistance of the polymers used in interior of vehicles, only burn rate is evaluated and currently there is no specific /mandatory requirement under CMVR and other standards applicable in India to check the presence/levels of toxic flame retardant present in the vehicles.
It is therefore submitted that in the absence of such a specific standard, chemical characterization is not performed on the submitted samples, as ARAI does not have testing facilities for confirming the presence of chemicals. For assessment of chemicals used in interior material of vehicles, examining the issue of presence of cancer causing chemicals, examining the issue of use of flame retardants - TCIPP, TDCIPP and TCEP which are stated to be carcinogenic and for their impacts of human health, specialized toxicological studies are required to be conducted by medical experts / by the experts in the relevant field and ARAI is not having expertise in the said domain.