Flame Retardants in all your furniture, the scandal:

After my son was born more than a decade ago, we got a new couch and carpeted the sun-room to make things more baby-friendly. For some reason I became freaked out about flame retardants + the petrochemical crap in carpets. I am grateful that my husband and his dad spent a whole afternoon laboriously removing the carpet and sofa and NOT A WORD or a grumble. Now, there's hard evidence, and the scandal is worse than you can believe:

RESEARCHERS this summer purchased 42 children’s chairs, sofas and other furniture from major retailers and tested them for toxic flame retardants that have been linked to cancer, birth defects, diminished I.Q.’s and other problems.

In a study released a few days ago, the Center for Environmental Health reported the results: the toxins were found in all but four of the products tested.

“Most parents would never suspect that their children could be exposed to toxic flame-retardant chemicals when they sit on a Mickey Mouse couch, but our report shows that children’s foam furniture can carry hidden health hazards,” a co-author of the study, Carolyn Cox, said in releasing the report.

These flame retardants represent a dizzying corporate scandal. It’s a story of corporate greed, deceit and skulduggery, powerfully told in a new HBO documentary, “Toxic Hot Seat,” that is scheduled to air on Monday evening.

This is a televised window into political intrigue and duplicity that makes “House of Cards” or “Breaking Bad” seem like a Sunday school picnic.

read more here: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/24/opinion/sunday/kristof-danger-lurks-in-that-mickey-mouse-couch.html?smid=pl-share