Who Are You In Bed With?

When you think of your mattress, do the corporate logos of oil companies and chemical companies come to mind?

The ISPA (Intl Sleep Products Assoc), along with the chemical companies, lobbied for new laws to make mattresses fire retardant. Sounds admirable, right? However, to save the 500 people a year in trailer parks who falls asleep drunk with a cigarette hanging out of their mouth, we now get to add to the toxic chemical load of every person in America who blindly and unwittingly buys a mattress. And in the process, the chemical companies sell more chemicals, and the mattress companies get to drive the small manufacturers out of business.

Nice trick. Here is an excerpt from an article I read recently. Notice who is making the statement in defense of the mattress companies on behalf of the fire safety chemicals:

Mattress makers aren't using PentaBDE anymore—but it's not clear exactly what they are using to meet the new standard. Major manufacturers such as Simmons, Sealy, and Tempur-Pedic won't divulge their flame-retardant formulas, which are considered trade secrets. A Simmons press release touts a "proprietary blend of char-forming, intumescing, flame-resistant components." Tempur-Pedic vaguely states that its products "consistently meet all safety standards."

A best guess at what's in today's mattresses comes from Ryan Trainer, executive vice president of the International Sleep Products Association, an industry group. He says most companies use "various types of barrier fabrics" such as cotton treated with boric acid or rayon treated with silica—both relatively benign chemicals—as well as fire-resistant materials such as modacrylic fiber (which contains antimony oxide, a carcinogen) and melamine resin (which contains formaldehyde).

The next time you buy a piece of furniture or bedding, please ask questions. This toxic empire will not crumble unless consumers continue to put pressure on companies and stop buying their toxic junk. What is in your mattress? Do you even know?