Federal flameproof mattress regulation creates new health risk.

In July 2007, a federal flameproof mattress regulation was passed requiring that new mattresses be made with fire-retardant chemicals. While the prospect of not having their mattress go up in flames may help some people sleep better, the fact that chemicals such as antimony, boric acid, and melamine are present in these beds make for a chilling health risk.

Fortunately, doctors—including doctors of chiropractic—can prescribe toxin-free mattresses to their patients and make money in the process.

News Stories Highlight Sickness from Flameproof Mattresses

News catches on rather quickly, with both NBC-TV and CBS-TV running stories about poison mattresses on the same day. An NBC-TV investigative reporter interviewed a US Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC) representative who said the toxic chemicals in beds do not leach out. Then, the reporter showed the CPSC's own scientific report proving that chemicals do leach out and are absorbed by our bodies. This resulted with CPSC Acting Chairman Nancy Nord expressing concern about flame-retardant chemicals because "the health effects of some of these chemicals are not well-understood."

The NBC-TV reporter then interviewed a person sickened by their mattress, who stated, "I had flu-like symptoms like fatigue, headaches, and my eyes would burn." Several mattress factory employees were also interviewed, stating that they and their coworkers became ill after being required to add flame-retardant chemicals to the mattresses they build.

"We've seen rashes and skin irritations, headaches, sore throats," one of the workers said. "I've had nosebleeds, bronchitis, and coughing," another said. "It's happening to lots of us, and it's just been getting worse." When asked if they would purchase and sleep on a mattress made at their factory, the workers said they would not.

In the CBS-TV story, more people came forward with skin rashes and fevers. The CBS-TV story also pointed out that the CPSC excluded children under age 5 from their internal study by assuming that all these children will sleep on vinyl sheets due to bed-wetting, and that this will protect them from the toxic chemicals in their mattresses. However, European scientists have proven that antimony leaches through vinyl on crib mattresses. And yes, many new crib mattresses now contain antimony, which is known as an acutely toxic and cancer-causing flame-retardant chemical. According to Dale Guyer, MD, this unsafe chemical is now appearing in people's bodies.

Additionally, there are no labeling requirements for the chemicals used in flameproof mattresses, which may include insecticides, fertilizers, and known carcinogens such as antimony, boric acid, ammonium polyphosphate, melamine, and formaldehyde. Because of this, many mattress manufacturers deny using chemicals in their mattresses, instead noting that they use Rayon (which contains silica glass, PVDC, and antimony or phosphates).

What Is Making Sleepers and Workers Sick?

It is too early to know. It has not been adequately studied. Breathing tiny fragmented glass particles, antimony, boric acid, or other chemicals could explain the respiratory problems.

Antimony is known to cause skin rashes. From Wikipedia.com: "Clinically, antimony poisoning is very similar to arsenic poisoning. In small doses, antimony causes headache, dizziness, and depression. Larger doses cause violent and frequent vomiting, and will lead to death in a few days." From Scorecard.org: "Cancer: The State of California has determined under Proposition 65 that antimony oxide (antimony trioxide) is a carcinogen."

The CPSC proved that many fire-retardant chemicals leach from flameproof mattresses in significant quantities, and with small absorption assumptions says we will absorb .8 mg antimony every night. Even .8 mg is 27 times more than the Environmental Protection Agency says is safe. Antimony accumulates in our bodies, and when pressed about the cancer risk from antimony trioxide, the CPSC representative admits, "The cancer effects are cumulative. Every exposure contributes to the overall lifetime risk of developing cancer."

What You Can Do

Inform your patients about this new health risk. Prescribe toxin-free mattresses. Give your patients freedom of choice. Most don't want to unknowingly sleep in and absorb toxic chemicals to avoid a 1 in 1.111 million mattress fire risk.

You can help create a control group of people not sleeping in chemicals so that later studies could prove these new mattresses harmful and eventually get this myopic regulation repealed. Your actions might help save millions of lives.

Sell prescription mattresses, which can be delivered directly to your patient from the manufacturer. They are not readily available in stores because retailers fear that even mentioning prescription mattresses will tell the truth about the chemicals in other mattresses and hurt their sales. Your prescription avoids sales tax and makes the purchase tax deductible for your patient. Patients may also use their health savings account, and you can make a lot of extra money and protect your patients' health. Chiropractors prescribing and selling mattresses is the wave of the future.

Mark Strobel is founder and owner of Strobel Technologies, which has manufactured mattresses since 1974. He was outraged the government would require toxic chemicals in all mattresses and has led the fight to repeal this regulation since 2003. He has generated a lot of news for the issue and now offers prescription mattresses through chiropractors at www.PrescriptionBeds.com. He can be reached via e-mail at or by phone at (800) 457-6442.