Bromine Science and Environment Forum
BSEF was established in 1997 and represents four of the world’s major producers of brominated flame retardants – based in the US, Israel and Japan. Although the name suggests an academic body or environmentalist organisation, or a coalition of scientists, environmentalists and other stakeholders, in reality BSEF comprises of - and is funded by - the Albemarle Corporation, Dead Sea Bromine Group (now renamed ICL Industrial Products), Great Lakes Chemical Corporation and Tosoh Corporation. It is represented by the PR giant Burson Marstellar in Brussels, who are highly experienced in running corporate front groups. Burson-Marsteller also runs several other bromine industry outfits fighting EU bans, such as the 'Alliance for Consumer Fire Safety in Europe' (ACFSE) and the European Brominated Flame Retardant Industry Panel (EBFRIP), which consists of three of the four BSEF corporations [1], [2]. BSEF actually employs no staff of its own in Brussels; everyone working for BSEF from the Cortenbergh 118 head offices is a Burson-Marsteller consultant, from high-level Program Director Lawrie McLaren to Angela Albers of the secretariat. [3] In addition to this, the whole of the BSEF's budget goes through Burson-Marsteller [4].
BSEF had hitherto managed to operate relatively unchallenged, but the group has recently run into heavy criticism. The California-based Environmental Working Group, for instance, in a July 2003 report called the BSEF "a lobbying front dedicated to casting doubt on the mounting evidence against brominated chemicals" [5]. In a recent Open Letter calling the EU Commission to introduce binding rules on lobbying, BSEF was described as an “industry front group run from the Brussels offices of a global PR firm, on behalf of chemical industry clients� [6].
External links
Corporate Europe Observatory, Bromine Science and Environmental Forum (BSEF), Front Group for the Bromine Industry
