Futon tech: Flame-retardants

After getting a new hybrid 6″ cotton/2″ foam futon and taking it home, I noticed it has an odor. The odor reminds me of linseed oil or linen or something like that.

I was thinking about it, and then something made me think about the futon being treated with flame retardant chemicals. I did a search online and what I saw immediately was of concern: Claims that futons are treated with nasty chemicals which can cause all sorts of health problems.

The largest promulgators of such information are in fact futon companies themsevles, trying to push their own, “natural”, “organic”, or otherwise non-treated products.

I decided to call the company I bought the futon from. The information I obtained from them was that yes, they can sell me a non-treated futon which has organic cotton and costs $220 more than I already paid, which is quite expensive for a futon. I asked if they have just untreated cotton, not necessarily organic, and the answer was no. That is curious. Think about this for a second. It doesn’t make sense. And why would cotton cost more if it is untreated? So much of what gets marketed as natural is a scam anymore.

Anyhow, he told me that the cotton is treated with boric acid. If that’s the case, I’m not worried about it at all. Boric acid is not that different than salt. It does not emit fumes. It does not vaporize. It really is a form of salt which has boron instead of sodium ions in it.

When I first moved into my apartment there was a serious roach problem and one of the first things I did was go to the hardware store and get a powder to stop roaches. The powder was basically pure boric acid. I applied it liberally throughout my apartment.

Boric acid would only be a problem if one were to ingest it. Even then, the ingestion would have to be chronic and a large quantity. It is about as toxic as table salt to the bocy. There are claims that it is highly mutagenic, etc., but I’m sorry with something like this it would really take a substantial, sustained exposure which would be highly out of the ordinary to really become affected by it.

If one had sustained contact with it where it could possibly absorb into the body, or if one were breathing the dust from it, it could be a problem. But this would be highly out of the ordinary based on normal usage. Salts don’t just whip up into vapors. If anything, as time passes they tend to pick up moisture and congeal or settle into place.

Anyhow, one benefit of boric acid is that its toxic to insects. As far as I know its toxic to all arthropods which means even nasty things like bedbugs would be affected by it, which actually makes me feel good.

Am I happy that the cotton in the mattress has been treated with boric acid? In the end not particularly. I don’t think its really necessary. But I’m not going to let it bother me. I’m not going to pay $220 extra for “organic” untreated cotton.

I use a mattress cover on the futon. I do flip it up for air during the day and conceivably some residue of the boric acid could penetrate outside of the covering and get into the air or in contact with my skin, but my guess is that it would be a very, very negligible amount of at all. And, even if it did, I would be glad to know that I probably won’t be having any problems with bedbugs.

As for that smell the futon has, the guy at the futon store said that the grassy smell of the futon is because it is stored with tatami mats. Tatami mats have a strong grassy smell (because they are grass). That is exactly the smell I was noticing. Some people actually claim to be allergic to tatami. But tatami is considered the material of choice for lining a floor with for traditional Japanese interiors. One day I would love to live in a place where the entire floor was tatami.

Reference: motherjones.com: Should You Ditch Your Chemical Mattress?