A Slate reporter was bowled over by the pungent chemical aroma her new IKEA sofa emitted after she took of the package. She carved off a little piece of the mattress foam and sent it to a lab, which found it contained a funky flame retardant called “chlorinated tris.” This is interesting as brominated tris was banned from children’s sleepwear in 1977 after studies showed it was a skin-absorbable carcinogenic. [More]
