ALERT! Here’s what happened.
Caryn shared her story online. When she purchased a new mattress, the salesperson told her that it might have a slight odor for a couple of days. When it was delivered, she said “it had the worst reek I could imagine. It made my whole house smell like a chemical dump.” She called the store where she bought it and was told to open the windows and put out baking soda! That did nothing.
The store delivered a similar mattress made by another manufacturer, which reeked just as badly. She had spent a few thousand dollars on this new mattress, with chemicals wafting through her house, no place to sleep and a splitting headache from the fumes. There are so many chemicals being used in mattresses and bedding, you must do your own research before making any purchase. Don’t let Caryn’s nightmare become yours.
Something to consider.
Have you ever thought about what’s in that place where you spend almost one-third of our life – your mattress? Maybe you have trouble falling asleep at night? Do you wake up with rashes or congested? You are not alone, and there are a number of reasons that your bed could be making you sick.
Starting in the 1960’s most mattresses have been made of polyurethane foam, which is a petroleum-based material which emits volatile organic compounds which can cause skin irritation and respiratory problems. Formaldehyde, which is used to make one of the adhesives that hold mattresses together, has been linked to asthma, allergies, and cancers.
Beginning July 1, 2007, Federal Fire Retardant Regulations required that mattress manufacturers increase the level of toxic fire retardants that are used in a mattress, but they are not required to list the ingredients that are used. While each bedding manufacturer uses its own proprietary blend of chemicals to meet the government fire mandate, common ingredients include borate/boric acid, melamine, antimony and formaldehyde. All of these chemicals are known carcinogens.
In 2005, Walter Bader, owner of the “green mattress” company Lifekind and author of the book Toxic Bedrooms, sent several mattresses to an Atlanta-based lab. A memory-foam model was found to emit 61 chemicals, including benzene, naphthalene, and PVC (polyvinyl chloride),
According to European Sleep Works, “memory foam mattresses are a synthetic product constructed by gluing a visco-elastic polyurethane topper to a mid-density polyurethane foundation using a chemical adhesive. The mattress is then sheathed in a polyester terrycloth cover with vinyl backing.
In order to make the “memory” in memory foam, you have to start with polyurethane elastometric, which is made using a combination of the chemicals Polyol and Toluene Diisocyanate (TDI). TDI is an aromatic hydrocarbon, which means it emits a strong, noxious odor that often bothers the new owners of a memory foam mattress. TDI fumes are known to cause asthma and other reactions such as headache, nausea, dizziness, and fatigue.”
Who knew that most mattresses are chemical “wastebaskets” full of potentially health-damaging material? So concludes indoor air quality expert Dr. Rosaind Anderson of Anderson Laboratories Inc., after studying emissions from some of the best-selling mattress models.
TAKE ACTION! Here’s the good news about what you can do.
A mattress is a large investment and as you are now aware the decision of which one to buy should not be based on a slick TV ad. Go to your favorite search engine and find out what chemicals are in the mattress you are considering.
If you are having health problems which you believe could be caused by your current mattress, find out what chemicals it could be emitting.
Check here for a followup post which will cover suggestions for your mattress research. Here’s to a healthy and restful sleep.
