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Organic Mattress Info: Why Your Mattress May Be Killing You
by Mark Sweiger
The organic movement, which started with organic food, is moving to the
bedroom in a big way. "The bedroom? " you say. Yes, my dear, the
bedroom, where organic mattresses and organic bedding are becoming an
important new trend in the quest for a healthier lifestyle.
The organic bedroom trend is motivated by some very recent disturbing
discoveries about the petroleum-based foam mattresses most of us sleep
on every night. Studies of household dust have confirmed that your
mattress is likely one of the most significant sources of cancer-causing
chemicals in your home. The average mattress consists of petroleum-based
foam covered in petroleum-based polyester fabric. During its 10-year
average lifetime, a foam mattress loses up to half its weight, and the
lost weight goes on your bedroom floor in the form of toxic dust and in
the air in the form of formaldehyde gas which is a by-product of the
foam breakdown. Those dust bunnies under your bed could be a real threat
to your health, unless you use an organic mattress which does not break
down into these toxic by-products.
The foam mattress story gets even more scary. The average
petroleum-based foam queen-sized mattress is soaked in about a pound of
fire retardant chemicals called PDBEs, which have already been banned in
Europe, but not in North America. PDBEs are chemicals which are similar
to the banned PCBs, and they build up in the body like DDT and PCBs. The
PDBEs are used because they are the simplest and cheapest way to conform
to United States mattress fire resistance codes. They are also promoted
by the chemical industry, which recently sponsored tightening of the
mattress fire resistance codes, which will cause even greater quantities
of PDBEs to be used in the manufacture of mattresses beginning in 2006.
While these new codes will save an estimated 27 lives a year from fires,
these new regulations play Russian roulette with the future health of
the 285 million Americans that sleep on these petroleum-based foam
mattresses. Those calling for a ban on PDBEs say the greater danger is
not the lives lost in fires, but the potentially millions of cases of
cancer caused by exposure to these chemicals over the coming decades.
The solution to this problem is to remove petroleum-based bedding from
your home, and this has spawned the burgeoning organic bedroom movement.
The cornerstone of this trend is the organic mattress, which is the same
kind of mattresses our ancestors used before the rise of the
petrochemical industry after World War II. It is also interesting to
note that current cancer rates are more than 5 times higher than before
World War II, when everybody was sleeping on organic mattresses by
definition, because there was no petrochemical industry during those
times.
Examples of an organic mattress include:
1. Organic cotton and wool batting innerspring mattresses with an
organic cotton fabric cover. Wool is naturally fire retardant and meets
all US fire codes.
2. A Natural latex mattress, whose foam is made from the latex sap of
the rubber tree and which require no fire retardants because natural
rubber does not burn well.
3. Luxury organic mattresses which use combination of all three
materials, organic cotton, wool, and latex, to produce maximum comfort
mattresses that rival any non-organic mattresses.
4. All organic cotton mattresses. Although cotton does not burn well, it
requires a doctor?s prescription because cotton does not meet US fire
resistance codes.
Organic mattresses also have comfort advantages over traditional
petroleum-based foam mattresses. They wick away moisture from the body
much more thoroughly than clammy polyester and man-made foam, stopping
night sweating and cutting down on problems like athlete?s foot and jock
itch. Wool also regulates body temperature very well, which is important
for a restful sleep. Natural latex foam and wool are resistant to dust
mites, which cause allergies in many people, and organic cotton and
latex foam are both hypoallergenic materials. Organic mattresses are
also considered a must for people with chemical sensitivities.
Major North American manufacturers of organic mattresses include
Vivetique/Crown City Mattress, located in South El Monte, California,
Royal Pedic, headquartered in Beverly Hills, California, and Obasan,
located in Ottawa, Canada. Retailers of organic mattresses include a
variety of local mattress stores who carry products from these
manufacturers, and nationwide web retailers, like Dax Stores, which
often have the best prices for these mattresses.
About the author:
Mark Sweiger is a freelance reporter on home and garden topics and
ecological news, and he can be reached via email at
msweiger@NOSPAMearthlink.net. He is a definite believer in
the value of organic sheets and organic mattresses (see
http://www.daxstores.com/organic-bedding.html and
http://www.daxstores.com/organic-mattresses.html for a
further introduction to these).
More Information on
Organic Bedding and Mattresses
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