Tom,

You can help a conservator immensely by acquiring the Material Safety
Data Sheets (MSDS) for the fire retardants being considered. Although
these information sheets do not list all ingrediants in a product,
they are required to list hazardous components as well as information
such as flashpoint and decomposition products. Those decomposition
products are those things that will be in the smoke if the product
burns - you are also likely to get all sorts of nasty volitiles from
your carpeting, paint, plastics, etc., if a fire starts.

I would suggest asking your conservator to cross post this query on
the ConsDist List as it may garner advice from a colleague who has
recently delt with this same issue.

Cheers!
Dave

David Harvey
Conservator
Los Angeles, California

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