New bed sheets

It doesn´t matter how delightfully crisp the new bed sheets are, or how clean they appear to be, smooth and neatly folded in their own plastic cover. What you don´t want to wrap around you is not visible. Cotton is the worlds most sprayed crop. Besides residues of pesticides the new fabric could contain anti molds and anti-wrinkle agents.

Asthmatics and allergic individuals could be especially sensitive to certain colorings and formaldehyde which is used to hinder the fabric from shrinking or wrinkling. Choose environmentally labeled when buying new. And wash, wash, wash before you sleep in your new bed linen - preferably many times, especially when it comes to children or other sensitive persons.

 

Mattress

Foam rubber and foam plastics burn well, but that is seldom the purpose of mattresses, which is why they are often impregnated with flame retardants. In addition hazardous chemicals are used when manufacturing, and residues could still be found. Every time you use the mattress you press it and small chemical particles are released through the air.

After a while they find their way back into the mattress again, unless, of course, you have inhaled them first. The heat and moist of the body could also contribute to the release of chemicals from the foam rubber. Some of the worst brominated flame retardants are forbidden nowadays, but it is not sure that the replacements - for instance organic phosphorus compounds - are entirely harmless.

Their close relatives are used as nerve gas. Replace the foam rubber from the 70s - 90s: that´s when brominated flame retardants were most generously used.

 

The jewellery tree

Actually, it is not the tree in itself which is the issue, but the bling-bling which hangs there. And what is it that weighs down? Yes, lead. Lead is cheap, and gives a solid weight and substance to other cheap materials. A couple of sweet earrings or a cool necklace chain could contain up to 40-50% lead, which is rubbed against warm and moist skin several hours a day.

In the USA and Japan children have died after they have been poisoned by their parents metal accessories. Lead is toxic to reproduction (harms the fertility) and cancerogenic. Even small doses could harm the nervous system and cause developmental retardation and impaired intelligence. In the bedroom, lead could also show up in electronics and in PVC-plastic (vinyl, near-leather) in for instance belts, bags, and toys.

PVC, polyvinyl chloride, is a very hard plastic which is first softened with endocrine disruptive phthalates and then stabilized with the help of lead. Play with something else - and adorn yourself with metals you can identify.

 

Condoms

The man of the 1800s had, in the best case, a piece of sheep intestine tied together with a string, on the bed side. Today, condoms are offered in different shapes, smells and attributes as candy in a candy store. Condoms are good to have. But… as mentioned earlier: Use your nose! If the stuff smells, it smells of chemicals. If they smell of strawberries or glow in the dark… it is all due to chemicals.

A German study found 60 times more cancerogenic N-nitrosamine (a byproduct from latex manufacturing) in a chocolate tasting condom than what is allowed in baby rattles. The smell and feeling of condoms are dependent on the production methods. Odors which turn you off or inconvenience with your mucous membrane should be taken seriously: test a different brand!