Cotton a culprit in flammable nightwear

Press, 29 June 1988, Page 11

Cotton a culprit in flammable nightwear

Cotton should riot be used for home-made children’s nightwear, the Health Department warned yesterday. The department issued the warning about home-made nightclothes yesterday after a third retailer was fined for selling flammable children’s nightwear. A popular view was that cotton fabrics were safe and polyster fabrics were unsafe, the department said.

“This is incorrect. The most common dangerous fabrics are cotton and cotton blends, such as polyester cotton.

“In fact, a survey of clothing fabrics sold in New Zealand found that the requirements for a low-risk fabric are met by materials which melt away from the flame — for examaple, polyester and nylon. Wool and wool-blend fabrics are also safe.”

Dr Peter Ingham, of the Wool Research Organisation in Christchurch, recently completed a study of burn accidents. He found a lack of knowledge on the burning potential of fabrics.

“The public seem to think that synthetics are bad and natural fibres are better. Wool is better but not cotton

or cotton blends because cotton is a flammable fibre.”

Dr Ingham said that fibres which melted rather than burst into flame were better for children’s nightwear. “Polyester is safe but even if you blend in a small percentage of cotton it becomes dangerous.”

While investigating burn accidents, Dr Ingham found that most children ran in panic when they found their clothes were on fire. “The correct thing to do is ‘stop, drop and roll.’ I think they should be taught that at school.”