The L.A. Times recently published a longish feature story about a
national furniture manufacturer who has been moved to eliminate
brominated flame retardants from his foam cushions when he learned
that they are now contaminating mothers' milk here in the U.S.

A couple things of interest here:  the story describes how exactly
PBDEs are applied to furniture and how IKEA, the Swedish furniture
maker, found alternatives years ago when the first signs of breast
milk contamination began showing up over there.

The story also says that breast milk with the highest level of PBDEs
ever measured has been found among individual mothers in Oregon,
Missouri, and Indiana.  (I haven't seen these data, so can't comment.)

The story did make me wonder whether investing in cotton futons and
Swedish furniture might be good prenatal advice...on par with smoking
cessation and sobriety.  !!  Sandra

To read full text, click on link below:

22 October.
<http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/front/la-me-foam22oct22235430,1,1892536.story>Bucking
a toxic trend. Whenever Bobby Bush hears that a chemical used by his
foam-making factories is building up in babies and breast milk, polar
bears and whales, it makes him cringe. Last year, Bush set out to
make his company the first polyurethane foam company in the US to
eliminate brominated flame retardants. Los Angeles Times, California.
--
--

Sandra Steingraber, Ph.D.
Distinguished Visiting Scholar
Division of Interdisciplinary Studies
307 Job Hall
Ithaca College
Ithaca,NY 14850-7012
[log in to unmask]
www.steingraber.com

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