Could be, but just showing the chemicals can harm mice, or cats, doesn’t mean that they have any significant effect on humans. At the same time, we know that before we added these retardants to furniture, there were a more fatalities from fires. So, it seems to me that we know the chemicals save human lives, while scientists think they might be doing some harm. I’ll take the definite over the indefinite, at least until they have more solid research.
The article did say that fire deaths had been reduced by 50% since fire retardants became the norm in the 70s