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Choosing low-toxicity furniture made without harmful chems that can off-gas in your home helps improve indoor air quality and may even get you feeling healthier.

Find it! Low-toxicity furniture designers

There are a number of designers making healthy, environmentally-friendly furniture today. Choose from couches and chairs to beds and mattresses.

Before you buy

Be budget-conscious and earth-friendly by choosing used or vintage furniture. Used furniture has already been fully off-gassed, so it will not carry VOCs. In addition, by reusing furniture rather than buying new pieces, you help save raw materials while saving landfill space.

Choosing low-toxicity furniture helps you go green because...

• Since they’re not treated with chemicals or toxic paints and stains, you’ll experience healthier indoor air and reduce ground-level ozone.

Indoor air is often more toxic than that found outdoors, due largely to the higher levels of VOCs—two to five times higher, in fact. New furniture can definitely contribute to low indoor air quality since many couch, table, and chair materials can off-gas, including upholstery, foam, paints, and stains.[1] People can be exposed to these pollutants while in contact with products containing VOCs, and high levels can remain in the air long after, say, furniture has been purchased and brought home.[2]

VOCs contribute significantly to ground-level ozone (smog) production and a variety of health problems.[1] Ground-level ozone also harms ecosystems and vegetation, accounting for an estimated $500 million in reduced crop production each year in the United States.[3]

Furniture's toxic ingredients

Pollutants can be introduced into your furniture through a variety of materials, including upholstery fabrics, foam cushioning, paints and stains, and more.

Cover finishes

In an effort to make their furniture more appealing, many manufacturers market wares that have been treated with flame retardation, permanent-press, and stain- and water-repellent finishes, as well as spill resistant chemicals. These features may sound appealing and necessary for safety, but contain off-gassing chemicals like formaldehyde. In addition, many cover fabrics, particularly cotton fabric that has been bleached and/or dyed, contain chlorine bleaching that releases carcinogenic dioxins.[4] Cotton covers also have negative environmental effects: cotton is a heavy water user, and is sprayed with more pesticides than any other crop in the world.[5] Due to cotton's natural resistance to dyes, roughly half the chemicals used as dyes or fixers end up as waste in rivers and soil.[6]

Cushion material

That soft seating may feel good on your posterior, but that cushiness is most often made possible by the use of synthetic foam, a form of polyurethane (part of the urethane family of chemicals), that can contain many toxins, including (but not limited to) formaldehyde, polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), and benzene.[7] Conventional foam cushions also require scarce resources and toxic chemicals. The construction of approximately 2 pounds of polyurethane rigid foam requires nearly 800 pounds of water, 1.5 pounds of crude oil, and 0.9 pounds of coal, and produces waste consisting of 9 pounds of carbon dioxide as well as other solid and liquid waste by-products.[7]

Many furniture companies are starting to substitute more natural materials for foam, including natural latex, organic wool, or recycled content products such as those made from plastic bottles.[8]

Paints and stains

Paints and stains applied to the hard surfaces of wood furniture can also be big VOC-emitters.[9] Government regulations continue to mandate decreasing amounts of VOCs in these furniture products and some manufacturers already produce low- or zero-VOC options. Nevertheless, the cumulative effects on indoor air quality of millions of gallons of latex paints and stains used in the US every year is significant.[10] The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) states that 9 percent of the airborne pollutants causing ground level ozone come from the VOCs in paint.[11]

Three factors can help decrease the amount of VOCs emitted by furniture materials: choosing latex over oil-based, selecting lighter colors, and opting for matte instead of glossy. According to a 2002 EPA study, latex versions of these finishes produce far fewer VOCs than oil-based paints, with only 2 to 5 percent VOC content in latex paints compared to 32-42 percent content in oil-based paints.[12] For every 1,000 gallons of low-VOC paint used, one ton of VOCs is eliminated.[13] In general, flat paints have fewer VOCs than glossy finishes and white or lighter colors contain fewer VOCs than dark or bright paints.[14]

Related health issues

Introducing VOC-laden furniture into a home can contribute to headaches, dizziness, fatigue, asthma, and other chronic problems. Additionally, long-term exposure to low-quality indoor air can lead to respiratory problems and cancer.[15] PDBEs, commonly found in furniture and mattress foam, can disrupt brain and reproductive functions and have been shown to have harmful effects on fetuses.[16]

Health effects from VOCs vary greatly depending upon the amount of chemicals in the air, time exposed, a person’s susceptibility, and existing medical conditions. Immediate symptoms that people have experienced soon after exposure include eye, throat or lung irritation, headaches, dizziness, and vision problems.[17] Young children, people with breathing problems, and pregnant women should avoid paint and stain vapors.[17]

Glossary

• benzene: A flammable solvent used to make many household products, including detergents, nylon, paint, furniture wax, lacquer, resins, and oil (although its use in many other household products was banned in 1978). It is poisonous when ingested.
• formaldehyde: A flammable reactive gas belonging to the VOC family of chemicals. It is widely used in personal care products, building materials, insulation, and home furnishings. Ingestion of the chemical can cause severe physical reactions, including coma, internal bleeding, and death. The US Department of Health and Human Services considers it a probable human carcinogen.
• ground-level ozone: The main component of smog, ground-level ozone is formed when volatile organic compounds (VOCs) react chemically with nitrogen oxides on sunny, hot days. Many urban areas have high levels of this summertime pollutant but rural areas can have increased ozone levels too as wind can carry ground-level ozone hundreds of miles from where it originates. Breathing ozone can cause a number of respiratory health problems, plus it damages ecosystems and vegetation, including crops.
• nitrogen oxide (NOx): A group of highly reactive colorless, odorless gases that form when fuel is burned at high temperatures. The most common man-made sources of NOx are motor vehicles, electric utilities, and other industrial, commercial, and residential sources that burn fuels.
• polybrominated diphenyl ether (PBDE): Foam and other furniture fillings are commonly treated with fire-retardants such as polybrominated diphenyl ethers, or PBDEs, which have been linked to brain and reproductive system disorders. A healthier alternative is wool, which is naturally fire resistant.
• volatile organic compounds (VOCs): Gases released by a wide variety of products that can create ground-level ozone, the main component of smog. VOCs can cause several health problems, ranging from headaches and respiratory inflammation to central nervous system dysfunction, and are also considered a possible carcinogen by the EPA.

External links

• Seattle.gov - Green Home Remodeling Guides: Painting
• Green Seal Certified Paints and Coatings
• Where You Sit "A Blog about Sustainable Furniture"