Duke University is doing a flame retardant testing project. You can send samples of your baby’s mattress, comforter, pillow, as well as any other foam in the house. They don’t test for all flame retardants, but it’s better than nothing. And it’s free.
Duke University - Details for free testing
We have replaced all our synthetic foam and mattresses with a collection of wool and silk. I know it sounds over-the-top, but it makes a huge difference in how we sleep.
And we don’t want to get cancer. Or inhale flame retardant chemical dust. I wonder about babies these days. Babies have gotten less healthy each year since about 1980.
The other day, it occurred to me that the parents I talk to nowadays are these 1980+ babies. You poor kids.
All the flame retardants (and everything else) ramped up in the 1970s-80s. Manufacturers pumped out cheap, synthetic fabrics that caught on fire easily. This happened at the same time the cigarette manufacturers made these cigarettes that never stopped burning. I remember when people had to re-light their cigarettes because the flame would go out. Take a flammable mattress and these (at the time) new long-burning cigarettes…a huge news story about someone burning in their bed.
Instead of telling people not to smoke in bed, flame retardants were dumped all over everything.
Then there were the cheap, colorful polyester nightgowns for girls. They were flammable. Instead of banning this awful fabric, the government mandated flame retardants on children’s nightgowns and PJs. That was the year my grandmother started making me flannel PJs. My grandmother, the retired school principal, kept researching and following developments like this for her entire life. Most of my friends were not so lucky.
In the 1960s, it was rare to know someone who had cancer. Our parents were both teachers, so we knew the stories of many families. Now it is a rare family without a cancer story.
There are other chemicals, of course, but this is a big one because you and your baby lie in bed all night, at a time when the body needs to recuperate, not marinate in these toxins.