Green Daily

Environmental Working Group recently tested twenty mothers and their toddlers for the presence of toxic fire retardants, such as PBDEs, in their blood. They found that the young children had three times as much of these hormone-disrupting chemicals in their blood as their mothers. The children were also found to have much higher levels than the newborns tested.

PBDEs are a class of fire retardants added to household furniture and electronic items. That means they could be lurking in your couches, chairs and even your laptop. So why do kids have such higher levels? According to EWG, one contributing factor is because young children put their hands in their mouths so often, ingesting ten times more PBDEs than adults.

What can you do? According to EWG, try to avoid buying furniture and electronics with PBDEs, more of which you can read about in the report here. Also, EWG recommends replacing any foam items that have ripped covers or broken-down foam, using a vacuum with a HEPA filter, not reupholstering foam furniture and being careful when removing old carpet padding.

And here's a simple way to help tackle this problem, if you don't have the money to replace every single piece of furniture in your home: On a day-to-day basis, make sure small children wash their hands frequently.