Careful Where You Sit

I just read a disturbing article about furniture. Did you know the fabrics and polyurethane foam used to make a lot of furniture contains PBDE’s (polybrominated diphenyl ethers) which are flame retardants that could be contributing to some types of cancer and birth defects?

Plus, how many of us say yes when asked if we want our upholstered furniture treated with a stain protector? Those aren’t so good for us either. They contain PFOA (perfluorooctanoic acid) and formaldehyde or other volatile organic compounds (VOC’s) that are both bad for our health and for our environment.

What should you do? Buy furniture that doesn’t have a stain repellent treatment on it (it usually saves you money too because that is almost always an added on fee) and look for furniture that says it doesn’t contain PBDE’s. Some manufacturers are now marketing PBFE free furniture. Ask for it when you go furniture shopping or try furnature.com

If you like your existing furniture and don’t want to get rid of it, get it reupholstered in untreated fabric (a few sources are: Hemp Basics , Climatex Lifeguard’s Renew pattern, and Twenty2)

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