Before you buy any allergy product

Some essential points to check before you purchase allergy products, especially bedding:

Words like Anti-Allergy, Hypo-allergenic, mite proof and the like are in themselves meaningless. A bedcover could genuinely stop 200 micron mites from crawling though and still allow allergens in the critical 0.5 to 20 micron “respirable” size to pass through freely. Mites can live just as happily in “Hypo-allergenic” bedding as they can in any other. In fact, the frequency of asthma is actually higher in children sleeping with hypo-allergenic pillows than in those with feather pillows!

Be very dubious of any claims that a textile is so finely woven that allergens cannot pass through. It is true that there was one scientific study that claimed to show that Der p 1 mite allergen could not be detected on a filter downstream from a textile with 8 micron pores. Two problems – the manufacturers of the filter used only claim it filters above 10 microns! – most Der p 1 is on larger than 40 micron particles and anyway, other smaller allergen particle, such as Der p 2, are probably clinically more important.

Anything sold for the prevention or relief of disease has the legal status of a “Medical Device”. If it does not carry the CE mark of a certified Medical Device, it may well not do what is claimed.

Check out the facts about mites, allergens and Medical Device certification at this site.

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