New parents were shocked when Moonlight Slumber, LLC was sued by the FTC in the name of protecting our nation’s tiniest and most vulnerable consumers: babies. Parents looking to remove harmful compounds and inorganic ingredients to protect their babies turned to Moonlight Slumber, LLC to purchase what they believed to be “organic” mattresses for cribs and baby beds. Specifically, the “organic” mattresses came from the company’s Starlight Simplicity and Little Star lines. Yet, the FTC argued that hardly anything within those mattresses were truly organic.
Synthetic Materials + Manipulated Test Results = Deceptive Advertising
While Little Star mattresses were advertised as having a natural latex core, the FTC alleged that the majority of the latex wasn’t organic…it was synthetic. Additionally, Moonlight Slumber, LLC advertised that their products had been tested and that they gave off no volatile organic compounds (VOCs).
To explain what a VOC is, consider carbon monoxide. While it’s not considered a VOC by the EPA, it still makes the concept easy to understand. Carbon monoxide is naturally occurring, but that doesn’t make it good for you. In fact, we make carbon monoxide detectors for homes to keep it from killing people. Ammonia is another example. Although not considered a VOC by the EPA, we all know that smelling ammonia will make us sick.
