Mattresses releasing dangerous chemicals in children's bedrooms: Studies

The Hill

15-04-2025

Invisible chemicals rising from children's mattresses may be harming their brains and bodies.
That's according to a pair of studies published on Tuesday, which found troubling levels of plastic-like 'phthalate' chemicals and flame retardants in the bedrooms of children under four.
'Parents should be able to lay their children down for sleep knowing they are safe and snug,' said co-author Arlene Blum, Executive Director of the Green Science Policy Institute, in a statement.
While there are some steps that parents can take to help keep their kids safe, the problem is pervasive, researchers argued.
The Canadian scientists found that found that the weight and temperature of the sleeping child helped create a plume of trace chemicals that filled their bedrooms.
These chemicals can harm the nervous and reproductive system. They also mimic and interfere with systems of hormones, or chemical messengers that help control virtually all bodily functions.
The researchers from the University of Toronto argued that much of the responsibility lies with manufacturers and policymakers. Decades-long campaigns have sought to ban phthalates and plasticizers in children's toys and furniture, with limited success.
Even where these efforts have been successful, manufacturers don't always follow them, and government regulators often don't enforce them. Tuesday's study found several mattresses containing chemicals that were banned in Canada — suggesting manufacturers weren't testing for compounds known to be harmful.
This controversy is particularly fierce around flame retardants, which Blum noted 'have a long history of harming our children's cognitive function and ability to learn.'
Similar chemicals are required by law in the interior of cars — where a 2024 study found that they increased cancer risks for tens of millions of commuters.
Those requirements remain despite repeated findings that so-called flame retardants do little to slow the spread of fire.
They do, however, make those fires 'smokier and more toxic,' as a spokesperson from the International Association of Firefighters said last year.
Mattresses across North America may pose a similar threat, Tuesday's findings found.
Despite some benefits in reducing flammability, federal research from the National Institute of Environmental Health Service (NIEHS) has found flame retardant chemicals cause widespread, insidious harms as they slough off mattresses and furniture.
These include links to impaired attention, cognition and fine motor skills in school age children.
And for phthalates, which are used to make plastic-derived compounds more supple, researchers have found that there may be no safe level of exposure.
Phthalates alone caused nearly $70 billion in added health costs just in 2018, a 2024 study found.
Copious research has found that exposure to phthalates and flame retardants is harmful to people of all ages.
But NIEHS notes that the risk is particularly stark for children.
That's because children breathe up to ten times faster than adults — allowing them to take in far more airborne contaminants.
Their skin is also more permeable to toxins than adults', and they frequently put potentially toxic objects from their homes into their mouths.
In Tuesday's findings, scientists focused on manufacturers and North American governments, who they said had to do more to ban dangerous plasticizers and flame retardants from mattresses and toys.
But there are some things that parents and caregivers can do, they said. First, wash and change a child's sheets and blankets frequently, because these offer the best shield against the mattress.
Second, they continued, declutter the sleeping area by removing excess blankets and toys — which are likely sources of contamination themselves.
Finally, they advised avoiding bright-colored sheets and blankets, which often include chemicals meant to block the assault of ultraviolet light — compounds which pose an additional threat.
But the researchers emphasized that this was not a problem parents could solve for themselves.
The study is 'a wake-up call for manufacturers and policymakers to ensure our children's beds are safe,' coauthor Miriam Diamond of University of Toronto said in a statement.