Last week, the federal government approved a new stricter flammability standard for mattresses, but some environmentalists say they believe the changes may expose consumers to dangerous chemicals. Mattress fires can be deadly. Every year as many as 360 people die in fires caused by burning mattresses and hundreds more are injured. Standards for smoldering cigarettes have been in place for 30 years, but this new change is designed to reduce the number of mattress fires caused by open-flame sources such as candles and lighters.
However, the government doesn't specify how mattress makers must design these new mattresses or what materials they must use to meet the standard. That could lead to a hidden danger for consumers.
They can use flame-resistant barriers or they can use chemicals, which are flame-retardant, and the cheapest way to go is with chemicals. These chemicals are not good chemicals. They can cause cancer. They can cause health defects.
The chemicals are polybrominated diphenylethers, or PBDEs. These chemicals don't break down and can accumulate in a consumer's body. Saving lives is important, but there are hundreds of thousands of cancer deaths a year and environmental causes have a role. We live in this chemical mixture. I don't think we should be constantly throwing chemicals at the problems we have in our world. Look at the safety of these chemicals a little more carefully before allowing them to be put on beds.
Stores can sell their existing supplies of mattresses that don't meet the standard until those supplies are gone.
SOURCE: http://www.wpxi.com/consumer/13539811/detail.html
