Have you seen the HBO documentary, Toxic Hot Seat? “Seat” stands for the sofas and other common products—including mattresses—that are suffused with toxic chemical flame retardants. We’d even offer Toxic Hot Sleep as an alternative title, considering how much time people spend on their mattresses.
The flame retardant story was broadly exposed to the public in 2012 by an award-winning series in the Chicago Tribune. Toxic Hot Seat makes powerfully clear how a complex and stealthy campaign from the tobacco and chemical industries has put public health at risk across the nation and around the world.
How safe is your home?
Overstated? Only if one believes increased risks for cancer, infertility, obesity, developmental brain disorders such as ADHD and autism, and even lowered IQ are reasonable. From just sitting on your sofa or climbing into bed over time. Or worse, from sleeping in a crib or playing on the floor.
Almost all mattresses available today–including memory foam mattresses—contain chemical flame retardants that migrate into the indoor environment. Our organic mattress company was founded in 2006 to offer a healthful alternative. Gradually, more consumers are becoming aware of the health risks of conventional mattresses and bedding.
We’re glad this groundbreaking documentary is taking the message to a much wider audience. The good news is that new knowledge brings new choices.
Spreading the Word
Here’s a summary description from the film-makers:
Toxic Hot Seat follows a courageous group of firefighters and mothers, journalists and scientists, politicians and activists as they fight to expose a shadowy campaign of deception that left a toxic legacy in our homes and bodies—a campaign so cunning, it’s taken nearly 40 years to unravel.
And from CineSource: “Toxic Hot Seat is environmental filmmaking at its pinnacle—revealing, horrifying, infuriating, compelling, and hopeful.”
Want to order the film or host a screening? Here’s how. Perhaps you’ll be inspired to spread the word.
