How does one avoid this?
I need some new furniture in the next year or so.
Basically look at the tag if it was manufactured recently.
But an unhealthy person will never get healthy by eating vegan, same as they won't get healthy by using healing crystals. It only works if you embrace the lifestyle and accept it mentally and become a "biased sample" yourself.
Unfortunately, it's not that simple. The update to the CA law is that manufacturers are no longer required to include flame retardants. They are still allowed to. I was surprised that even at a high-end furniture chain (Restoration Hardware), they were unable to tell me whether their furniture contained flame retardants or not.
If you're in the UK, it's harder than that. You either find one of a handful of small companies that are prepared to interpret the law more leniently, or you import from somewhere else in the EU.
These chemicals are also in carpets, and here you're in a worse bind, because the natural fibre alternatives are generally treated against insects and/or impossible to properly clean.
This website (which I'm not sure strikes the most helpful tone) has more on the UK situation: http://www.toxicsofa.com/
In other words, wood, wool, and tight weave cotton are your new friends.
Sorry, I don’t remember the names of the businesses, but this was 10 years ago when the flame retardants were mandatory for synthetic materials. I don’t even know if they are still in business.
For chairs that had built in padding, we bought 1960s and 70s furniture from thrift stores with the hope this was before flame retardants were in use. We did all this after my partner and our female cat developed Hashimito’s, had years of low energy, and needed daily thyroid medication.