Anne spent the day out shopping for organic furniture yesterday.  Are we being paranoid?  Maybe a bit but so many kids are having problems these days and there are so many toxins and chemicals out there, so maybe it is not a coincidence.  Anyway, read this;

As I researched, I found out that studies had linked these chemicals to SIDS, every mother’s worst nightmare. When the flame retardants (particularly antimony, arsenic and phosphorus) mix with the fungi caused by baby’s urine, perspiration, and drool in a mattress, poison gasses are released. Breathed for an extended time even in minute quantity, these nearly odorless gases can interrupt the choline/acetylcholine transfer of nervous impulses from the brain to the heart and lungs. That shuts down the central nervous system; heart function and breathing stop. Babies who have been recently immunized, or have compromised immune systems are at even higher risk. In New Zealand, which had the highest rate of crib death in the world, a mattress wrapping campaign was begun. Parents were urged to wrap their mattresses in a high-grade polyethylene plastic. Since the conception of this campaign in 1996, not one baby has died on a wrapped, or an organic mattress. This is a 100% success rate and yet the crib death researchers are not acknowledging this very important connection. In America, no one is telling us to wrap our mattresses and the chemical soaking of beds continues.

In adults the nightly breathing in of these toxins may cause nausea, watering eyes, runny noses, headaches, respiratory problems, impaired learning and memory (ADHD?), birth defects, liver, kidney, brain and heart muscle damage. People with allergies, asthma, and other preexisting conditions are at even greater risk. In our exploration of trying to buy a non-toxic bed we also investigated the popular “memory foam” type mattresses, which boldly claims to be non-toxic. After sifting through many, many consumer reviews, we found that people who had purchased these mattresses suffered the same symptoms, with a few more added – nosebleeds, vomiting, and most commonly, horrible joint pain. Doctors could not figure out what was causing their symptoms, but when the mattresses were removed, these people became healthy once again. I have to wonder how many more folks are out there in ill health who would never suspect they are being poisoned by their bed! I have come to believe that those who are sensitive and actually have a noticeable physical reaction to their new bed, or other environmental toxins, are actually the lucky ones. They are forced into to getting rid of the poisons. The people who do not feel the effects are still at risk, though many may not suffer the consequences for years to come.