What Is Borate? - Boric Acid Mattress

What Is Borate? - Boric Acid Mattress

The latest federal fire regulation is 16 CFR part 1633, which requires all mattresses to pass an open flame test. In California Technical Bulletin 117 applies for upholstered furniture and mandates every single component in an upholstered sofa be flame retardant. According to US consumer Product Safety Commission, under regulated FDA flammability requirements of 16 CFR part 1633, with a doctor’s prescription from a licensed health care professional, one can purchase a bed or mattress without fire retardants. The most natural fire retardant to add to cotton batting is in the form of Borate aka Borax, aka Boric Acid. At The Futon Shop, the fire retardant boric acid is only sprinkled into the cotton, and no fire retardant exist in their soy-foam, latex or wool. Boric acid is not a known carcinogen by the EPA, the state of California or the IARC International Agency for Research on Cancer. Nevertheless as a consumer, you have the right to eliminate fire retardants of any kind in the products you buy for your health and your family. In California FEBRUARY 1, 2011 Senator Leno proposed fire safety act SB147 to the senate. This bill would be added to Section 19161.7 of the Business and Professions Code, relating to furniture and would read:

19161.7.  The bureau, on or before March 1, 2013, shall modify Technical Bulletin 117 regarding product standards for fire retardant furniture to include an alternative flammability standard that can be met without the use of chemical fire retardants and does not compromise fire safety. In developing the alternative standard, the bureau shall consider a smoulder standard for upholstery such as the draft standard proposed by the federal Consumer Product Safety Commission (16 C.F.R. Part 1634, as published in the Federal Register on March 4, 2008).

We want to have a voice and a choice so join us and change California law to protect you and your family. Supporters of SB 147 The consumer choice fire safety act link http://www.psr-la.org/files/SB_147_Supporters.pdf Nationally Safe Chemicals Act of 2011 Take action and ask your senators to support the Safe Chemical Act of 2011. This act would increase the safety of chemicals used in consumer products, increase public access to health and safety information, and protect vulnerable populations like pregnant woman and children. The Safe Chemicals Act of 2011 is a long-overdue modernization of the Toxic Substances Control Act. It address the problems with TSCA that have been identified by the EPA, Government Accountability Office, and industry leaders that have testified in Senator Lautenberg’s Subcommittee on Superfund, Toxics, and Environmental Health over the past two years. The bill also comports with principles for TSCA reform issued by the Obama Administration, the American Chemistry Council, and the Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families Coalition. Act NOW Take Action Now

Details on borate

The Futon Shop uses odorless and natural borax as a fire retardant only in cotton or they can use wool as a natural and chemical free flame retardant. They would gladly make you a cotton mattress without borax simply ask your chiropractor or a physician for a note stating you want no added flame resistors in your mattress. The Futon Shop has many futon mattresses with cotton inside. Cotton is a major component in futons so the transformation to couch to bed is accessible. The Futon Shop puts boric acid in the cotton that goes into their mattresses, but there are a number of quality mattresses that no not have boric acid. Those mattresses are not obligated to have any fire retardants in them. Another natural fire retardant in The Futon Shop mattresses is wool, which is a natural fire retardant. Wool is often added to mattresses as a barrier to protect against a fire. Another added benefit of Boric Acid in mattresses is the bed bug and dust mite factor. Boric Acid is a natural repellant to bed bugs as well as a natural fire retardants. Boric acid is an odorless product. Boric Acid, also known as Borate, is a natural ingredient consisting of oxygen and hydrogen. It originates in dried salt lake beds of deserts or arid areas as the Death Valley. In 1702 Wiljelm Homberg found the added beneifts of boric acid making boric acids nickname, Hombergs salt. Because of General Electric Engineer James Wright research on rubber substitution during WWII, many added benefits of boric acid became existent such as; through pharmaceutical ad cosmetic industries, nutritional supplement, used for pest control and fungus control, as well as flame retardants.

The Futon Shop chemical free mattresses. (all are fire retardant free)



Mattresses that can be made without borate, but have cotton inside:


Click to find out if there will be fire retardants in your mattress.

Click here to read more about The Truth About Flame Retardants In Mattresses.

Click here to read more about Is Wool A Natural Fire Retardant?.

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