In 1987, more than 60 nations signed the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete Stratospheric Ozone, which prescribed measures to phase out chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and halons with high ozone depletion potential (ODP).

The U.S. government implemented the provisions of the Montreal Protocol through the Clean Air Act Amendment of 1990, and required the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to create a program to evaluate proposed substitutes for CFCs and ozone-depleting halons. This program is called the Significant New Alternatives Policy (SNAP).

Halotron^® I & II product concepts were initially developed in Sweden to replace stratospheric ozone depleting halons 1211 and 1301, which were widely used in portable fire extinguishers and total flooding fire extinguishing systems respectively in the 1970s and 1980s. American Pacific purchased exclusive rights to the Halotron technology concepts in 1992.

The U.S. EPA SNAP program approved Halotron I, the first in the series to be fully commercialized, in 1994. Production of halons stopped in all developed countries by January 1, 1994.

Halotron^® BrX was developed in the U.S. subsequent to an extensive screening process to identify a halocarbon based drop-in replacement for Halon 1211 as deployed in the past on-board commercial & military aircraft. The first UL-listed extinguisher was available in early 2017.

There are currently three commercialized Halotron clean fire extinguishing agent products: Halotron^® I, Halotron^® II and Halotron^® BrX.