Home Improvement or Health Hazard?

 

When your in the process of trying to improve you home with new furniture and rugs, the last thing on your mind is how your home improvement could harm your health. There seems to be no reason to even consider it—why would people make products that could potentially be dangerous to your health? It may seem like an unthinkable question, but the truth is that your furnishings could be delivering a daily dose of harmful chemicals.

You can read the list of ingredients used to make your food, but what would you find if other items had this same ingredient information? You would find that the glue used to hold together your furniture has a high amount of formaldehyde in it or has wood stained with mixtures that contain large amounts of volatile organic compounds (VOCS).

 If the item were upholstered, there would be even more chemicals missing with your indoor air. Fabrics that are treated to be stain resistant or water resistant have been impregnated with some potentially dangerous substances like formaldehyde and perfluorooctanoic acid (both considered to be linked to cancer). Dies that may have been used on the fabric might contain benzidine, a carcinogen—and most likely the cushions have been stuffed with polyurethane foam containing flame-retardant polybrominated diphenyl ethers, which are now banned in California for their potential health effects.

 Wall-to-wall carpeting is also a major source of indoor air contamination. Most all carpets will emit chemicals into the air over a period of months or even years—completely non-toxic carpets are rather difficult to find. After installing new carpets, it is not unusual to experience the following symptoms:

 

For those with Chemical Sensitivities, the reaction to airborne chemicals from furniture, paint and carpet may be more severe: