I am probably asked questions about this new flamability rule than anything else.  I even flew to Chicago a couple months back to attend a seminar sponsored by the International Sleep Products Association (ISPA) and the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC).  I warn you now that I am going to forgo my usual tactfulness with this subject.

To put it simply, the way this new standard came about, the timeline that an entire industry has been given to adapt to it, the way it is being implemented, the danger (yes, I said DANGER) it is placing upon the public and the total lack of information about it that is readily available to the general public is absolutely nothing short of complete insanity.

First, this is not a law.  A law must be passed by Congress and then signed by the President.  This is an administrative rule.  The entire decision rested with only 3 individuals, however that decision has forced the mattress industry to spend litterally hundreds of millions of dollars so far, with consumers expected to spend over 10 times that amount in higher mattress prices over the next 5 years.

The rule is so sweeping, that quite honestly ALL non-compliant mattresses will be obsolete come July 1, 2007.  Since even the top name brands have only been manufacturing compliant bedding for less than one year, that is a lot of mattresses!

The first thing that makes me angry:  Mattresses are very difficult items to dispose of.  Many smaller, very reputable manufacturers have recycled materials from good used mattresses to build new ones.  The industry even has a word for it - it's called a "Green Label" mattress because it is keeping these materials out of our landfills.  This new rule makes it so difficult to recycle mattress materials that anyone that even tries is going to end up having some sort of violation - for which there are huge fines, recalls and blacklisting on the CPSCs own web site!  Every manufacturer I know that currently has a Green Label program is discontinuing it as of June 30. 

Don't even think about donating that used mattress to charity either - they won't be able to accept it if it's not compliant.  No more "hauling away your old bed" from mattress stores because the only thing they can do with it is take it to a landfill!  Do you realize you could even be fined almost $2,000 for selling a non-compliant mattress at a garage sale??

The second thing that makes me angry:  The time this idiotic rule passed to the time everyone has to be compliant is 16 months.  The industry has scrambled to find any type of F/R (Flame Retardant) material to get past the burn tests (which can not even be done in accredited labs because there is no accreditation standard!).  Companies that supply F/R materials are not telling mattress manufacturers what is ACTUALLY in the material that makes it flame retardant!  This is INSANE!!  They call it "proprietary information".  There has been no time to test the long term health effects of the chemistry that is being used, nor even how long this barrier is supposed to last!  This means that you will have a sheet, maybe a mattress pad and one layer of fabric between you and something that could end up giving you cancer or something equally as deadly!  Oh, and if you follow our illustrious Government's other guidlines, you'll be on top of this for 8 hours every day!

The third thing that makes me angry:  The organic bedding community is having difficulty with the new rule because the mattresses do not contain an F/R barrier.  They actually do - WOOL - but the rule mandates documentation of F/R materials to a degree that makes it EXTREMELY difficult to document wool as an F/R barrier.  The first effects are already being felt as the U.S. Customs Service, citing the new rule, is already stopping Canadian made organic crib mattresses at the boarder because they haven't documented a CHEMICAL F/R barrier!  This is outragious!!  This also spells trouble for the world's premier organic bed - Green Sleep - because they are made in Canada and have to be imported into the United States.  I can see it now - a new Government Task Force designed to stop the flow of natural mattresses accross our boarders!!  Oh, and people with wool allergies can't even get a mattress without wool unless they have a doctor's prescription!! 

The fourth thing that makes me angry:  This whole thing was done without ANY public knowledge.  The entire decision was left to only 3 people - the directors of the CPSC.  They want to "protect people from open flame mattress fires" - how many people out there take blow torches to their mattresses??  This is supposed to prevent 450 deaths per year - the CPSC's own number.  Do you realize what our lives would be like if the Government regulated everything that kills 450 people or more per year?  Choking on solid food alone is responsible for many more deaths - is food soon going to be processed so it can only be consumed through a tube?  This is not a Government trying to protect its citizens, this is a Government that has gone completely off the deep end.

The fifth thing that makes me angry:  Try to call your Congressman or Congresswoman and you will find they have NO IDEA - not even a glimmer of knowledge about this rule that is going to effect every American who sleeps (and that's pretty much everyone)!  No joke!  There's no oversite here, nothing!

So, if you would like to enlighten the rest of this country to what is going on, feel free to contact your Government Official of choice and tell them to take a look at CPSC Rule 16 CFR 1633.  Otherwise, soon you will be seeing news stories about "massive mattress recalls" and "homeless have no beds".  Believe me, that's what's coming if this thing stays in force.