Flame retardants can harm your thyroid and pregnancy

Gah, 10 years ago we got rid of our carpets and brand new couch when we were about PBDEs, the common flame retardant. The stupid thing is, as we heard from our friend who is a furniture maker, that PBDEs make stuff burn A FEW SECONDS slower than untreated stuff and then you have the fumes. So basically the flame retardants do nothing.

So we bought new stuff from IKEA because PBDEs are banned in Europe. However, I've heard lately that because of US reg's IKEA stuff now reeks because they have special US-export pieces that they impregnate.

One of the horrible things the PBDEs do is disrupt your endocrine system, including your thyroid. Interestingly, both my cat and I developed thyroid problems in the house where we had the new stuff (PBDEs degrade/outgas over time). Especially if you're pregnant now you might want to read about how PBDEs can affect your pregnancy. From Pubmed:

Polybrominated Diphenylether (PBDE) Flame Retardants and Thyroid Hormone during Pregnancy.

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