Hey everyone,
Just want to see if anyone has any opinions on this topic, it seems like it would be something that gets talked about all the time but I have only been able to find a few select articles on the topic and seemingly no mention of it on this forum.
I began researching the use of potentially harmful chemicals in tents after I went to buy one yesterday that had this warning on it: "WARNING: This product contains chemicals known to the State of California to cause cancer and birth defects or other reproductive harm". At first I assumed this was a super intensely worded warning that likely wouldn't be that big a deal, but after researching it a bit it seems like it likely is a bigger deal. It appears almost all tents made in the US are manufactured with flame retardant chemicals, for fairly sketchy and seemingly not worthwhile reasons (as was described in some Chicago Tribune articles), and according to the research I've found (contrary to what a representative from Coleman told me on the phone today) these chemicals do rub off on your skin when you handle the tents, and the chemicals may also be in the air when inside the tent. Here are some of the articles I'm referring to:
http://www.alternet.org/personal-hea...xic-experience
http://otherwords.org/playing-toxic-...le-with-tents/
http://www.environmentalhealthnews.o...dants-in-tents
http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/ez400185y
I'm mainly wondering if this has been a concern of the camping community in the US in any large way, if not then why, and if so does anyone have recommendations on any companies to purchase (affordable) non-chemically treated tents from (likely from outside the US or from smaller tent manufacturers within the country)? I have found a couple companies that don't use the FR chemicals (Sierra Designs sells the Tensegrity Elite tents and The Tent Lab makes it a point to not use the chemicals: http://thetentlab.com/MoonLightTents/FR.html - but these tents are well out of my price range unfortunately). Would like to purchase a 4 person tent in the $100-200 range. Any help/insight on this topic would be much appreciated, thanks!
Just want to see if anyone has any opinions on this topic, it seems like it would be something that gets talked about all the time but I have only been able to find a few select articles on the topic and seemingly no mention of it on this forum.
I began researching the use of potentially harmful chemicals in tents after I went to buy one yesterday that had this warning on it: "WARNING: This product contains chemicals known to the State of California to cause cancer and birth defects or other reproductive harm". At first I assumed this was a super intensely worded warning that likely wouldn't be that big a deal, but after researching it a bit it seems like it likely is a bigger deal. It appears almost all tents made in the US are manufactured with flame retardant chemicals, for fairly sketchy and seemingly not worthwhile reasons (as was described in some Chicago Tribune articles), and according to the research I've found (contrary to what a representative from Coleman told me on the phone today) these chemicals do rub off on your skin when you handle the tents, and the chemicals may also be in the air when inside the tent. Here are some of the articles I'm referring to:
http://www.alternet.org/personal-hea...xic-experience
http://otherwords.org/playing-toxic-...le-with-tents/
http://www.environmentalhealthnews.o...dants-in-tents
http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/ez400185y
I'm mainly wondering if this has been a concern of the camping community in the US in any large way, if not then why, and if so does anyone have recommendations on any companies to purchase (affordable) non-chemically treated tents from (likely from outside the US or from smaller tent manufacturers within the country)? I have found a couple companies that don't use the FR chemicals (Sierra Designs sells the Tensegrity Elite tents and The Tent Lab makes it a point to not use the chemicals: http://thetentlab.com/MoonLightTents/FR.html - but these tents are well out of my price range unfortunately). Would like to purchase a 4 person tent in the $100-200 range. Any help/insight on this topic would be much appreciated, thanks!
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