PITTSBURGH -- On Wednesday, the federal government approved new stricter flammability standard for mattresses, but some environmentalist say they believe the changes may expose consumers to dangerous chemicals.

Mattress fires can be deadly. Every year as many as 360 people die in fires caused by burning mattresses and hundreds more are injured.

Standards for smoldering cigarettes have been in place for 30 years, but this new change is designed to reduce the number of mattress fires caused by open-flame sources such as candles and lighters.

Nancy Nord of the Consumer Product Safety Commission said, “The new federal flammability standard limits the spread and intensity of the mattress fire. This gives consumers valuable time to escape homes.”

However, the government doesn't specify how mattress makers must design these new mattresses or what materials they must use to meet the standard.

That could lead to a hidden danger for consumers.

Dr. Maryanne Donovan of the University of Pittsburgh Center for Environmental Oncology said, “They can use flame-resistant barriers or they can use chemicals, which are flame-retardant, and the cheapest way to go is with chemicals.”

And that worries Donovan. “These chemicals are not good chemicals. They can cause cancer. They can cause health defects," she said.

The chemicals Donovan is talking about are polybrominated diphenylethers, or PBDEs.

Donovan said these chemicals don’t break down and can accumulate in consumers bodies.

She said she believes saving lives is important.

"Saving 350 lives is important, but we have hundreds of thousands of cancer deaths a year, and environmental causes have a role. We live in this chemical mixture. I don’t think we should be constantly throwing chemicals at the problems we have in our world. Look at the safety of these chemicals a little more carefully before they allow them to be put on beds.”

This new standard goes into effect July 1.

Stores can sell their existing supplies of mattresses that don't meet the standard until those supplies are gone.

More Info:
- University of Pittsburgh Environmental Oncology Center

- PBDEs