Fire Retardant in Bedding a Good Idea?

News Release: Fox59 TV Gets First Industry Admission of Chemicals in Beds

"The flames engulfed one mattress, but not the Serta mattress treated with a flame retardant ... Serta uses small amounts of Boric Acid or Boron ... While other mattress makers do offer similar flame retardant products in California, Serta is the only company to use a flame retardant system on it's entire line of mattresses across the country."

Our health risk other side of the story also got good coverage, and the story asks, is it safe, and is the benefit worth the risk?

Fox59 TV in Indianapolis ran the story; see links to it and our responses at www.PeopleForCleanBeds.org 

Boric Acid is Poison! It is also used as Roach Killer. While 10 to 14% Boric Acid in treated cotton may be considered a small amount, it translates to a large number in mattresses. Our dissection and analysis shows one of these mattresses could have 2.52 pounds of water-soluble Boric Acid powder as loose dust in its surface. This is 1,144 grams, Over One Million Milligrams! Will it leach out and get us? The NIST says: "This treatment is impermanent in that it is subject to both mechanical segregation and leaching." A June 2004 EPA report says the “developing fetus and the testicles are the most sensitive targets, … high prenatal mortality, … reduced fertility and sterility,” birth defects, brain, liver, and kidney damage. All with no external symptoms, and they warn our exposure may already be too much. They never imagined we would put Boric Acid in our mattresses. One human chronic exposure study " found a decrease in sexual activity ... a reduction in semen volume," reduced sperm counts and mobility. In another study: "Complete atrophy of the testis occurred in one male." Boric Acid/Boron is also a simple poison, it makes you sick, and Infants have died from a single dose of only 2-3g. A mattress would likely fail the ‘child-sucking test,’ among others. The CDC and ATSDR list Boron/Boric Acid as one of 275 substances “which pose the most significant potential threat to human health” And the EPA says, “use without dermal protection may result in serious chronic and developmental effects.” Plus, we have strong reason to believe boric acid flame proofing systems also contain Antimony Trioxide.

Antimony Proven to Leach from Mattresses and Linked to SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome). (Jenkins 1998) Britain experienced problems with Antimony used in mattresses as a flame retardant 10-years ago. Antimony was found in the livers of dissected dead human infants. Antimony is also linked to Cancer, and a single dermal application has killed rabbits. Europe has since been moving away from and scrutinizing FRC’s, while the US CPSC is rushing laws through that require toxic FR chemicals in our mattresses, upholstered furniture, mattress pads, bedspreads, comforters, pillows, and more. The mattress FR law is already effective in California, where it seems most mattress makers use Modacrylic fibers (Antimony) blended with polyester, and quilted directly under the ticking. The CPSC seems overzealous in pushing these laws through. Modacrylic fibers have Antimony Trioxide spun with the fiber. The CPSC calls these ‘Inherently Flame Retardant Fibers’. The CPSC says exposure data and more study are needed on Boric Acid and Antimony FR systems, yet the law will pass within the next year, before study is done. The CPSC says study will be ongoing, meaning we will first test our people. We have complained loudly to the CPSC and the only response we got was them showing up at our door to audit us on compliance with the 1973 cigarette ignition law. There are no labeling requirements. The CPSC says consumers could not distinguish a safe system. They are right, the only choices seem to be Boric Acid, Formaldehyde, or Antimony, or a combination of two. There are no independent studies that show these systems are safe.

New Research March 2005: Public Library of Science Medical Journal: “The developing fetus and young child is particularly vulnerable to certain environmental toxins… Over the past three decades, researchers have found that remarkably low-level exposures to these toxins are linked with less overt symptoms of toxicity—intellectual impairments, behavioral problems, spontaneous abortions, or preterm births… Children must be better protected from both new and existing chemicals that are known or possible toxins.”

Whitney Davis, the man who wrote and started the law to flameproof mattresses, now having second thoughts, "You don't know until 10 years down the road and there's a problem," he said. "We feel responsible." (As quoted in the San Francisco Chronicle)

Even with our best science, which has not been applied to this issue, these chemicals in beds could prove to be toxic, and millions of people could die. We are putting 300 million people at risk to save 300 from fire. Do you want to sleep in toxic chemicals to avoid the 1 in One-Million risk of dying from a mattress fire? You will likely buy a new mattress within the next ten years, and will not be given a choice. Please stop this law!


Sincerely, Mark Strobel, President, Strobel Supple-Pedic, www.Strobel.com  and Director, www.PeopleForCleanBeds.org  3131 Industrial Parkway, Jeffersonville IN 47130, Phone: 812-282-4388, Fax: 812-282-6528, Email: mark@strobel.com , Please visit our websites and contact me.


Notice: The statements and questions contained in this notice are not intended to convey allegations regarding any particular company, person, or association. Readers should conduct their own investigation of a company or association or person to ascertain the particular policies, practices, and motivations of that entity. I have reported what I believe to be true and correct to the best of my knowledge and opinion at the time of its writing in a free speech effort to avert a public health disaster.