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The Q Collection

When you think of indoor air pollution, you probably wouldn’t think about it coming from your living room couch. Or the bed you sleep in. Or your favorite chair.

But today’s furniture is often loaded with toxic chemicals used to glue it together, give it a shiny finish or preserve the wood it’s made from. Toxic chemicals such as formaldehyde, polyurethane and brominated flame retardants are standard components of much of the furniture on the market today. They not only contribute to indoor air pollution (raising your risk for cancer, asthma attacks and neurological problems), but making and using them also causes damage to the planet.

Fortunately, for those who want to avoid polluting the air in their homes and exposing their family to toxins, now a few furniture manufacturers are finding ways to make well-built, stylish furniture without the use of harmful chemicals. At least two companies – the Q Collection and Pacific Rim – are marketing ecologically friendly furniture that doesn’t require toxins to hold it together or make it look good.

The Q Collection makes furniture with a modern design and maintains a commitment to using only ecologically friendly materials. Pacific Rim manufactures solid maple children’s furniture that contains no toxic glues and uses wood grown in sustainable forests in Washington and Oregon.

Granted, you won’t find these items at cut-rate furniture stores because they aren’t mass- produced. But if you want to sleep at night knowing each breath you take doesn’t include a lungful of toxins, it’s a choice you might consider.

For more information on chemical-free children’s furniture and bedding, click here.

For more information on the materials used in the Q Collection, click here.

To read more about this and other environmental health issues, go to: www.environmentalhealthnews.org, www.ourstolenfuture.org, or www.healthandenvironment.org