For related articles and more information, please visit OCA’s Health Issues page and our Appetite for a Change page.

Eighty percent of cushions used in car seats, portable cribs and other baby furnishings contain chemical flame retardants that can accumulate in babies’ bodies, according to a new study published Wednesday. More than one-third of the tested products contained the same carcinogenic compound that was removed from children’s pajamas in the 1970s. For many of the chemicals, the potential health effects remain unknown and unstudied. The study’s lead author, Duke University’s Heather Stapleton, said many of them have been used in foam cushions only recently, replacing another chemical that was banned after 2004 because it was building up rapidly in human bodies.

Eighty percent of cushions used in car seats, portable cribs and other baby furnishings contain chemical flame retardants that can accumulate in babies’ bodies, according to a new study published Wednesday.

More than one-third of the tested products contained the same carcinogenic chemical that was removed from children’s pajamas in the late 1970s.

The study, conducted by research chemists from California and North Carolina, suggests that babies are being exposed to at least eight different flame-retarding chemicals in an array of products sold nationwide.

Manufacturers add brominated and chlorinated compounds to polyurethane foam cushions to slow the spread of flames in case they catch fire. The chemicals can leak from the cushions and then babies can inhale or ingest them, or absorb them through their skin.