Organic Mattress Lovers will be ecstatic to read about an article that came out on the Gizmodo website in Australia on 28th March. The Article "If Flames Don't Kill you, The Fumes Will" is an excellent article pointing out the dilemma faced by the American Chemical Society during their 243rd National Meting in San Diego.
Research being shared at the conference highlights that Bromine or 'Halogen based' fire treatments increase carbon monoxide and hydrogen cyanide in the air during combustion. The number one death in house fires is not from burns but instead from fumes.
Research by the University of Lancashire points out that Mineral based fire retardants maybe safer. which during a fire swell creating a barrier that flames cant penetrate.
Altough PBDE is being phased out in Europe, the alternative fire retardant of choice seems to be HBDE which is still a Halogen based fire retardant, in our opinion it seems wiser to spend more money researching mineral based and natural fire retardants and invest in fire safety education.
I personally would much rather my family be safe from fumes in their everyday life and thereby avoid long term illness or reduced quality of life than surround myself in chemicals in the fear that a one off fire may choke us to death rather than burn us to death anyway!
Not everyone's choice but at buyOrganics we understand that people want to invest as we do, in their families safety from unnecessary toxic chemicals!
Full article: http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2012/03/if-the-flames-dont-get-you-the-flame-retardants-will/
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