Wool - What's With Wool?

Ok, I'll start this post by quoting the real bottom line in Dr Mercola's The Mattress That Plays Havoc With Your Hormones article that I referred to in my Heal Your Food - And Your Home post a couple of days ago.  His final paragraph reads as follows:

You spend from six to nine hours every night with your face in close proximity to your mattress, breathing in these chemicals. Your children spend even longer sleeping, with their faces even closer to the mattress surface. And if your children jump on the bed, or you bounce on your mattress, even more of these toxins can be released into the air. For this reason, look for a chemical-free, organic or 100% wool mattress for your child.

As for the rest of the house, PBDEs are widespread in:

• Carpets
• Textiles
• Polyurethane foam furnishings
• Electronics and plastics
• Motor vehicles

They outgas into your home regularly and are commonly found in household dust, where they can be inhaled. Again, since they are persistent environmental pollutants, PBDEs are also found in various foods, including wild fish and the most "pure" food of all, breast milk.

For those of us looking for answers, here it is - "Look for a chemical-free, organic or 100% wool mattress for your child".  And I would add to that - any members of your family who are specially at risk.  Plus make it your aim to get your whole family off sleeping on toxic mattresses as soon as possible.

So you say to me, "Why wool?"

And living in New Zealand, 'OF COURSE' I would be in favor of wool.  Well, there's more to it than that. Here's a few reasons 'why' wool:

• Wool is 100% natural (provided no-one's 'improved' it by adding any man-made fibres, chemicals etc);
• Wool resists fire - wool does not catch fire or burn readily;
• Wool is the warmest fibre you can have close to you.  As a long-term high-country walker, I know that the best thing you can have next to your skin in bad weather is 100% wool, because even if it gets soaking wet in really cold conditions, it will keep you warm.

Although people with sensitive skins may find wool next to the skin a bit 'scratchy' (and this is usually due to an allergic condition NOT caused by the wool itself), once it has been properly processed (as in 'chemical-free') and made into a mattress, you won't have the actual wool next to your skin.

Do more than just think about it.

Take Control - and have a great day!

Patricia