My Chemical-Free House on “Avoiding Flame Retardants in the Home”
November 30, 2014
Corinne Segura of the blog My Chemical-Free House wrote an article called “Avoiding Flame Retardants in the Home.”
From the article:
There are many companies making organic or natural fiber carpets, such as wool. And for rugs, some good options include cotton, rattan or jute. Carpets should explicitly state that they use all natural materials. I go over the greenest carpet companies in this post. Conventional types from big box stores contain a long list of chemicals including flame retardants. Many big box stores now carry carpets with the Green Label Plus certification which is not a low enough level for sensitive folks. Always ask about FRs, since these are not considered VOCs.
Be careful when removing old carpets as the FRs can become scattered as dust. Do not do this yourself if you are sensitive, and have all the dust cleared before reentering the room.
It’s hard to know which curtains contains FRs as they will not be labeled. I would assume that curtains from hardware stores and conventional stores do contain flame retardants as well as a formaldehyde finish. I have a post on window coverings with chemical-free options.
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