Why Your Mattress May Be Killing You

Written by Mark Sweiger


The organic movement, which started with organic food, is moving torepparttar bedroom in a big way. "The bedroom? " you say. Yes, my dear,repparttar 138562 bedroom, where organic mattresses and organic bedding are becoming an important new trend inrepparttar 138563 quest for a healthier lifestyle.

The organic bedroom trend is motivated by some very recent disturbing discoveries aboutrepparttar 138564 petroleum-based foam mattresses most of us sleep on every night. Studies of household dust have confirmed that your mattress is likely one ofrepparttar 138565 most significant sources of cancer-causing chemicals in your home. The average mattress consists of petroleum-based foam covered in petroleum-based polyester fabric. During its 10-year average lifetime, a foam mattress loses up to half its weight, andrepparttar 138566 lost weight goes on your bedroom floor inrepparttar 138567 form of toxic dust and inrepparttar 138568 air inrepparttar 138569 form of formaldehyde gas which is a by-product ofrepparttar 138570 foam breakdown. Those dust bunnies under your bed could be a real threat to your health, unless you use an organic mattress which does not break down into these toxic by-products.

The foam mattress story gets even more scary. The average petroleum-based foam queen-sized mattress is soaked in about a pound of fire retardant chemicals called PDBEs, which have already been banned in Europe, but not in North America. PDBEs are chemicals which are similar torepparttar 138571 banned PCBs, and they build up inrepparttar 138572 body like DDT and PCBs. The PDBEs are used because they arerepparttar 138573 simplest and cheapest way to conform to United States mattress fire resistance codes. They are also promoted byrepparttar 138574 chemical industry, which recently sponsored tightening ofrepparttar 138575 mattress fire resistance codes, which will cause even greater quantities of PDBEs to be used inrepparttar 138576 manufacture of mattresses beginning in 2006. While these new codes will save an estimated 27 lives a year from fires, these new regulations play Russian roulette withrepparttar 138577 future health ofrepparttar 138578 285 million Americans that sleep on these petroleum-based foam mattresses. Those calling for a ban on PDBEs sayrepparttar 138579 greater danger is notrepparttar 138580 lives lost in fires, butrepparttar 138581 potentially millions of cases of cancer caused by exposure to these chemicals overrepparttar 138582 coming decades.

The solution to this problem is to remove petroleum-based bedding from your home, and this has spawnedrepparttar 138583 burgeoning organic bedroom movement. The cornerstone of this trend isrepparttar 138584 organic mattress, which isrepparttar 138585 same kind of mattresses our ancestors used beforerepparttar 138586 rise ofrepparttar 138587 petrochemical industry after World War II. It is also interesting to note that current cancer rates are more than 5 times higher than before World War II, when everybody was sleeping on organic mattresses by definition, because there was no petrochemical industry during those times.

Cry of the Polar Bear

Written by Arthur Zulu


Cry ofrepparttar Polar Bear By Arthur Zulu

Here roam I with my cubs inrepparttar 137920 Arctic feasting on seals by ice packs away from human predators. We are content in this harsh world with our double furs and blubber, invisible to spying cameras.

But now our safety is no more; for we awake and our beloved ice is gone. Marooned on ice packs we famish and expire, because I cannot swim with my pups. And we marvel to behold late winter and early summer as we chance upon unforeseen bodies of water.

I do not pity you, man, whenrepparttar 137921 seas eat your land; for did you not turn onrepparttar 137922 heat that now freezesrepparttar 137923 ice? Nor do I bewailrepparttar 137924 walruses,repparttar 137925 reindeers, andrepparttar 137926 caribous. Methink those neighbors of mine will tarry longer.

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