Karen Revels doesn’t think she’s done anything all that
dramatic. “I have gotten rid of all of my children’s flame-
retardant pajamas,” she says. That’s it. Flat out. Revels will
not put her kids to sleep in pajamas treated with flame
retardants. The chemicals used to resist flames, she claims, are
just too toxic. “They’re sleeping in chemicals. They’re
breathing them.” She worries the chemicals also leach into skin.
And she’s not worried about what other parents might think of
her decision. “The chances of my house burning down at night are
far less than the chances of them getting cancer or some other
kind of disease by breathing chemicals,” she insists. Revels
says her pediatrician supports her decision. In fact, others in
the medical community do too. “It’s not clear flame-retardant
pajamas save lives,” says Dr. Josef Thandiyil, a medical
toxicologist at Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children. Thandiyil
says chemical exposure is a real concern, even with the newest
flame retardant called PROBAN, which is made