As you sit reading this you may not be aware that the furnishings and decor in your home are the root cause of many of yours and your family’s ailments. While health practitioners are rather quick to prescribe drugs, which in themselves have many unwanted side effects, they are not getting to the basics of having a healthy environment to live in and the drugs are only masking the effects of inhalation of toxins or the toxins that that are slowly leaching into the bloodstream via the skin.
Some of the most toxic areas in your home are soft furnishings including beds, settees and carpets, wall coatings including paints and sprays for other reasons IE mould repellents, and windows, doors and other things that are made from PVCs.
Low IQs and Cancers from Flame Retardants in our Furniture
Studies show that the chemicals used in flame retardants in furnishings which can migrate and settle in dust in our homes, have shown up in breast milk, babies and toddlers as well. What is known and very alarming is that these levels are known to lower the IQ and can slow down brain development in early years.
Yet this is only the tip of the iceberg.
Besides the fact that these chemicals which are in widespread use in California have an impact during crucial developmental stages, they are also known to be ineffective in preventing fires, and worst of all they give out highly toxic and carcinogenic fumes as they come into contact with fire.
As the world bases flame retardants regulations on California’s “OLD” regulations from the 1970’s then it is highly likely that your furniture in your home is killing you softly too.
Brominated Flame Retardants in Widespread Use
BFRs are now used in almost all types of electrical and electronic products typically found in homes, offices and motor vehicles. They are used in the plastic casing of equipment such as TVs and computers and in components such as plastic circuit boards and insulating materials. They are also widely used in textiles, furniture and polyurethane foams for other uses
The RSC website “Why do we worry about Brominated Flame Retardants?”
Should we be concerned?
Is it better to be safe from a fire than to consider the long term health implications of all of these retardants and chemicals in our homes? It seems that are as yet no real alternatives and if hundreds of lives can be saved from fires then the benefits of flame retardants will still significantly outweigh the longer term health implications which according to a Food Standards Agency investigation (see dietary intake levels of certain BFRs are well below those that would have implications on health are minimal in the human food chain in the UK in 2003 and 2004. I guess you can make your own mind up on this one!
Flame Retardants give out Toxic Fumes when Exposed to Fire
As you can see in the following video, firemen are showing high levels of these carcinogenic toxins in their systems and some firemen are now found to have cancer which is explicitly caused by working with dangerous chemicals, specifically the fumes from the flame retardant furnishings.
Flame retardants in our furnishings are not the only chemicals in our homes that could have long term health implications.
Each time you introduce a new piece of furniture or decor you are most likely to be bringing toxic chemicals into your home.Every time you paint your rooms and enjoy the sweet smell (for many the smell is sickly) of fresh clean paint for several days you are breathing in toxic chemicals which are the most common causes of significant respiratory problems and skin disorders. The smell by the way is from VOC’s which are Volatile Organic Compounds so make sure you always choose non toxic paints. (Probably your doctor prescribed drugs to help you breathe more easily by opening up your bronchioles to let in even more of the toxic chemicals didn’t he? Lose-lose I’m afraid!)
Products Registered with the Environmental Protection Agency are Toxic. Spot the Label!
If your product has a label “EPA” on it then DON’T use it!
Did you know that any product particularly paints and coatings ( or any other product) that are registered with the EPA contain some forms of toxic chemicals that need to be monitored? And you thought that little symbol on your paint can meant you were protected didn’t you? Well it means quite the opposite! Products registered with the EPA contain toxic or dangerous ingredients. One way to ensure that you are using a product that is safe both for the environment and the applicator is to seek out products that are not registered with the EPA. Since certain products only contain benign ingredients which are not harmful to the environment or the user then there is no need for them to be registered with the EPA.
Why do they still add all of these chemicals to wall coatings?
First and foremost our governments don’t have the guts to ban them and secondly they are the cheapest things to add that make the coatings do what they are supposed to do and with minimal ease. Hazardous chemicals and are still the most widely used additives to the coatings industry to date and they will leave an environmental legacy for many generations to come.
Save the Environment by Saving Energy and use PVC Windows, Doors, Tiles and so on. Not likely!
Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) which can be found almost everywhere in the home from flooring, ceiling tiles,carpet backing and wall coverings contain harmful phthalates and dioxins. The dioxins gradually build up in our bodies and may remain there for years and there is some good evidence that PVC is linked to breast cancer,decreased fertility, inability to carry babies to full term and high incidence of asthma in children.
Did you know that without adding lethal toxic chemical stabilizers that PVC is useless? The chemicals that are added are lead, cadmium and organotins, and phthalate plasticizers. All of these chemicals leach out of the PVC over time usually in flakes or as gases and are high risk cause of asthmas, lead poisonings and cancers.
Globally, over 50% of PVC manufactured is used in construction, in products such as pipelines, wiring, siding, flooring and wallpaper. As a building material PVC is cheap, easy to install and easy to replace. PVC is replacing ‘traditional’ building materials such as wood, concrete and clay in many areas. Although it appears to be the ideal building material, PVC has high environmental and human health costs that its manufacturers fail to tell consumers: GreenPeace International Database of PVC Alternatives
And PVC’s are deadly when exposed to fire.
Which sort of brings us right back to the beginning of this post and the use of fire retardants in soft furnishings. Do you get the point now? Basically if we are not going to die by fire then we are certainly going to die by poison fumes!
Check out healthybuilding.net for more on toxins in the home and environment too!