Harmful Chemical Wafts Off Your TV

[babylonsister]

Sheesh. Now they tell me.


Harmful Chemical Wafts Off Your TV
By Scott Streater


FORT WORTH, Texas - Common household dust has long been known to carry pesticides, allergens and other irritants.


But the dust that coats your television sets may answer why virtually every American tested has traces of a chemical flame retardant that may be harmful.

The flame retardants have been used for decades in television sets, computer-wire insulation, mattress stuffing, carpet padding and many other common household products. They have been found in household dust, but no one has been able to say how they got there and from what products.

A study by researchers at Boston University’s School of Public Health appears to have pinpointed the largest source of chemical flame retardants as the dust on television sets.

Using a portable X-ray device, researchers sampled 19 Boston-area homes and found large volumes of the flame retardants in television dust.

more...

http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/05/11/8882/

[supernova]

1. Always wondered why TV dust

is rather black and ewww.. kinda greasy compared to common household dust (bits of skin and mites)

[coriolis]

4. Dust is dust. The TV (if it's an old fashioned CRT type) just collects it efficiently.

:eyes:

[qazplm]

2. eh

there is something everywhere that is theoretically harmful. We live as long as we have in the history of mankind, so its hard for me to get too spun up over TV flame retardant dust traces.

[California Griz]

3. This is stupid

TV's don't produce dust they collect it just like an ionic air filter. I thought carpeting was already fingered as the main source of releasing flame retardant chemicals.

[Blue Diadem]

5. I get the same junk off the ionic filter that I do off the TV screen.

I agree with you. While there possibly might be a slight amount coming from the TV itself, I think a majority of it is just what's floating around in the air from other sources.

[Rex]

6. Well I guess video really did kill the radio star.

Or she was just really, really flame resistant.

[rucky]

7. But we won't burn as quickly

right?

[Ikonoklast]

8. Only when the channel accidentally gets changed to Faux Snooze

If you keep the TV on Faux long enough, it will emit a gas that kills your brain cells and what the bleached blonde inflatable bimbo is blathering on about suddenly starts to make sense; whereas before it all sounded like she was reading Joyce, translated into Urdu, by an Inuit.

[leftchick]

9. has anyone bought a new mattress lately?

I bought one online not knowing that flame retardant became a Federal Requirement in July 2007. I opened it up when it arrived and was overwhelmed by the fumes! The company said to "let it air out for a few days" :banghead!

I did some research and discovered how fucking poisonous new mattresses are....

NBC Indianapolis, 2-14-08, Sleeping with Danger

A very strong story: Patty Davis, a spokeswoman with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, said the toxic chemicals do not get out of the mattress. But then the reporter showed the CPSC report and said: "But that's not what the CPSC's own scientific report says." The report shows toxic and cancer causing chemicals do leach from mattresses and are absorbed by our bodies. The story interviewed Dale Guyer, MD, who said he is now finding Antimony in peoples bodies, one of the FR chemicals now being added to mattresses. Guyer said. "This could be a potential serious health risk for a lot of people and they aren't even aware of it. "They interviewed Amy Beechy, who got sick from her mattress and said: "I had flu like symptoms like fatigue, headaches, my eyes would burn," Beechy stopped sleeping on the mattress and immediately began to feel better.

"At several factories around the country, the people who make mattresses say they're suffering health problems, too. WTHR talked to workers at a large mattress plant who say they and dozens of their co-workers have gotten sick in the past eight months. "We've seen rashes and skin irritations, headaches, sore throats..." said one of the workers. "I've had nose bleeds, bronchitis, and coughing," said another. "It's happening to lots of us and it's just been getting worse." They say all the health problems began last year when they started making mattresses that pass the government's new flame test. When asked if they would purchase and sleep on a mattress made at their factory, the workers said they would not."

Like most stories they also interviewed Mark Strobel who has led the fight against the regulation, and they concluded by telling people the only way to get a chemical free mattress is by prescription.

A great story we hope you will watch: http://www.wthr.com/Global/story.asp?S=7873623



Boric acid, better known as roach killer, is one of the chemicals now used inside mattresses to make them flame-retardant.




:wow:

So I sent the mattress back, which cost me 300.00! I ended up buying a feather bed topper until I can afford an organic mattress.

[Fridays Child]

10. decabromodiphenyl ether (decaBDE)

Green Screen for Safer Chemicals

Sick of Dust

[KT2000]

11. The chemical stew

concentrates on dust, we inhale and the particles go into the nose. Sometimes multiple chemicals can react to cause serious damage to the nasal passages. The tight junctions of the cells that is our protection, loosen and allow chemicals to pass into the olfactory bulb which is located in the center of the brain.

A study in Italy found that dust samples in a clothing contained 6000 ppm formaldehyde when the ambient air levels were satisfactory.

[California Griz]

12. This is why all the social security failing propaganda is BS

We are all being poisoned. Long before SS fails the impact of all the toxins will result in huge percentages of the baby boom generations dying prematurely. I can't even walk down the detergent isle at the grocery store without becoming sick.

[KT2000]

15. You are so right

I already see this is happening. I sure do not recall my mother having several friends with breast and ovarian cancer.

[FourScore]

13. kick and more

Question: What are chemical flame retardants?

Answer: Synthetic chemicals called polybrominated diphenyl ethers, or PBDEs, that help prevent the spread of fire by impeding the chemical reaction that causes it. They are commonly found in polyurethane foam products, such as the padding in furniture, textiles, televisions and computers.

Q: What's the concern?

A: The main concern is that PBDEs build up in the body over time. Data on how they affect humans are slowly emerging. Animal studies have shown that PBDEs harm the nervous system and alter hormonal functions and the development of reproductive organs. The most common flame retardant in use today has been found to cause cancer in lab rats. Industry officials said that the levels in people and the environment are low and that this commonly used flame retardant is safe.

Q: What's being done?

A: Many companies, including Sony, are phasing out the use of PBDEs in televisions — the average U.S. household has more than two television sets.

Q: What should you do?

A: The most important things are wash your hands often and dust your house. A study last year by researchers at Boston University's School of Public Health linked the presence of the flame retardants found in people to exposure to common dust, which can be inhaled in the air or ingested in food

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/health/2004406134_dust11.html

[FourScore]

14. You're getting some pretty odd responses to this post tonight, babylonsis.

I posted this same article earlier, but deleted it after seeing you had beat me to it. I think it is important for people to know and understand as much as they can about the harmful chemicals in their environment. Thanks for posting.