Oh Halogenated Flame Retardants. She’s a killer hiding behind a mask of good intention. Relaxing in our homes all day, every day, then running in, pretending she can stop a fire! Save children! Keep your lit cigarette from setting your mattress ablaze! But let’s be honest, HFRs is a mess — a hot mess. She’s so clingy and needy, hanging on everything and getting all up in your business, covering you and anything that crawls from babies to kittens. Laying your head on a HFRs laced mattress or couch can be toxic to your brain, endocrine and reproductive systems and has detrimental effects on your thyroid and liver function. “Snap, did I do that?” Yes, HFRs, yes you did.
HFRs shows up in car seats, strollers, nursing pillows, cribs and sleep positioners and leaves a trail of toxic footprints in her wake. Like Wonder Woman, HFRs’ producers have tried various makeovers to reinvent her image over and over again — PBDEs, Tris, FireMaster 550. But she’s still the same old HFRs underneath all of that hair dye and spandex. When a fire does catch, she’ll fill the place with smoke and toxic gasses, and you’ll be lucky to escape. As soon as HFRs spots those hunky firefighters on the scene, she is all too happy to cause a hot mess for their health too. In October 2011 she was awarded a well deserved spot on California’s Proposition 65 for her role as cancer causing Tris.