Question from D.

I have had four polyester curtains with acrylic backing on my bedroom windows for one year. I have noticed no smell and no negative reactions. ( I am not chemically sensitive).

I then decided to put up six more curtains,made of the same material so they would match, on my very long section of closet doors. When I bought the new set of curtains, I noticed that the backing was made of acrylic. I then googled acrylic and realized that some people consider it to be a carcinogen.

If there is no smell, and the backing is not the typical foam-like blackout material, is the acrylic doing any harm? I presume it is VOCs that would be harmful? With 10 curtains, we would be sleeping exposed to a lot more VO C’s than when we had just four.

Should I take the financial hit and throw out these now ten curtains and purchase 100% cotton fabric to make new curtains? I am really just not sure how dangerous acrylic backing is…

Debra’s Answer

I myself would throw out the acrylic curtains and replace them with 100% cotton curtains.

I have some black curtains I bought at Target and after I washed them they were perfectly fine. I don’t see them on their website, so they may not carry them any more. This was a few years ago.