that is until i met andrew mcguire, founder of the trauma foundation, an organization devoted to injury prevention. are these chemicals, are these retardants effective? >> the way retardants are put into foam, they are not effective. >> wait, what was that again? >> the way retardants are put into foam, they are not effective. why? because foam doesn't ignite from a match or a flame or a cigarette. the fabric ignites first. when fabric ignites, the flame of the fabric and the heat produced by the fabric burning overwhelms the flame retardant so they're not effective. >> take a look at this test from the consumer product safety commission. the cpsc. the chair on the left is full of flame retardant chemicals. the one on the right has no flame retardants. in less than a minute, the differences between the two chairs are minimal. in july of last year, the commission's chair testified before the senate. >> if fire retardant foams did not offer a practically significant greater level of open flame safety than the untreated foam. >> i'm a dad. you think you're doing the right thing by buying p