Finding a non-toxic couch is a chore, but is now doable.

For seven years, my couch has been a source of anxiety.

I bought it in 2009 from some shady discount warehouse. It was a great deal, but after it was delivered I found big yellow notices stapled under the cushions: “FLAME RETARDANT.”

I knew chemical flame retardants were toxic. But if I wanted a couch there wasn’t much of an alternative.

In the mid-1970s, a California law required furniture foam to meet a new flammability standard. Over the next four decades, manufacturers pumped flame retardants into consumer products that saturated U.S. households.

A highlight reel of these chemicals’ nefarious qualities: They tend to go airborne during normal use and settle as dust. When people inhale or ingest them, they accumulate. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found flame retardants in the blood of 97 percent of Americans sampled. In 2004, an Indiana University researcher reported levels in human blood, milk and tissue had spiked by a factor of 100 since the 1970s.

In 2012, a Chicago Tribune investigative series exposed the chemical industry’s campaign to push widespread use of fire retardants. This despite links to a host of health hazards, from lower IQ and developmental delays to reduced fertility and cancer. Meanwhile, it was becoming apparent that flame retardants don’t really make things less flammable.

Thanks to good journalism and tireless advocacy, California passed a law making the use of chemical flame retardants in furniture cushions voluntary. It took effect in January 2015.

Which meant the toxic elephant in my living room had to go. My husband and I had watched hundreds of hours of Netflix on that damn couch. I’d nursed two babies on it, then raised those babies into crawlers with hands going floor to mouth. Now they’re bouncing boys who launch and face-plant onto that couch. I wince every time.

The new law doesn’t mean all the upholstered products in California are nontoxic. It just means they don’t have to contain flame retardants. According to the Chicago Tribune, a product labeled in compliance with Technical Bulletin 117 (TB 117) “almost assuredly contains flame retardants.” Products referencing the new law, TB 117-2013, might or might not. Look for another label specifying whether the materials contain flame retardants.

In September 2014, the Natural Resources Defense Council asked 16 national furniture retailers if they’re phasing out flame retardants. The following chains indicated they have: The Futon Shop, Crate & Barrel, La-Z-Boy, Williams-Sonoma (which owns Pottery Barn and West Elm), IKEA and Interline. Ethan-Allen and Walmart said they would at some point, too. Stores that didn’t respond or commit to changes: Pier 1, Restoration Hardware, Target, American Signature, Cost Plus, Macy’s, Rooms-to-Go and Sears.

Last March, Ashley Furniture announced it’s dropping chemical flame retardants from its products. There’s an Ashley showroom in Salinas, which is where my family headed last week. We settled on one that was a little more expensive than its flame retardant-doused counterpart at Macy’s, but less pricey than the retardant-free models at Pottery Barn.

It was worth it. Because on this new couch, I can finally relax.

KERA ABRAHAM is former assistant editor of the Weekly.