Unexpected Toxic Exposure
San Francisco could soon be the 1st US city to prohibit chemical flame retardant’s in all new upholstered furniture and children’s products sold in the city including online sales.
A proposed ordinance under consideration by the Board of Supervisors would ban all flame retardants from children’s products including play and nap mats, nursing pads, changing pads, infant seats, high chair pads and strollers and beds. The proposal is expected to come up for vote on October 17 of this year. It would also include flame retardant- free foam to be used when furniture is reupholstered.
Flame retardant’s have been linked to cancer, endocrine disturbances and developmental problems in children. Scientists have gathered reams of evidence that these chemicals migrate out of the furniture foam and end up in the bodies of not only children but also adults. Biomonitoring studies have found flame retardants in the bodies of Americans nationwide and children often have higher levels than adults.
Flame retardant’s have been intentionally added to foam products for more than 40 years. In 2013, the California legislature concluded that adding flame retardant’s to furniture was not making products safer, resulting in enacting a major overhaul in the states fire retardant rules.
During critical stages of development, children are especially vulnerable to health hazards related to flame retardants. In the 2013 a study by University of California at Berkeley researchers showed that prenatal and childhood exposures to one class of flame retardant’s, bromine-based chemicals known as PDBE’s are linked to attention, coordination and learning disabilities. A 2017 a study led by the researchers at the University of California San Francisco found that exposure to PBDE’s is associated with lower IQ scores in children.
In July of 2018 the state of Maine has a similar law banning the sale of furniture containing flame retardants beginning in 2019. Rhode Island passed a regulation to ban all organohalogen flame retardants in bedding and furniture that also will take effect this year.
Recent monitoring by the US Consumer Product Safety Commission found that Harmful bromide and chlorine containing flame retardants are still found in more than one fifth of children’s products.
We spend approximately one third of our life in bed. We have been unexpectedly exposed to cancer-causing toxins for one third of our life. We assume that our beds and especially children’s beds are comfortable havens for our bodies to recharge and heal.
A company known as Bio Posture produces mattresses without these flame retardant toxins. The bio foam mattresses are handmade with eco-friendly and renewable resources. They contain no harmful toxins. The mattresses have many excellent qualities that provide high quality comfort and sleep. I’ve attached a link to their website. If you have sleep issues, back pain or possibly unexplained health issues it is important to you to check out these mattresses.
