With the mattress market expanding, it’s more important than ever to do your research. Though each individual sleeps different, everyone should be looking for a nontoxic organic and /or natural mattress that is safe for your health and home.
1. What is a non-toxic mattress?
Many mattresses are made with chemicals that can be dangerous to breathe in and can trigger allergic reactions for people with sensitive skin. These chemicals are unsafe for you, your home, and your family. A non-toxic mattress is a mattress that is certified free of any toxic chemicals. Non-toxic mattresses often contain a combination of natural, organic materials, with the certifications to boot.
2. Why should I care?
Your mattress should be one of the first places you look when it comes to detoxing your home. Many manufactured mattresses contain chemical flame retardants, heavy metals, phthalates, and even formaldehyde. When looking to clean up your lifestyle and home, that big piece of furniture you spend ⅓ of your life in should be a priority.
3. What are the toxins?
- Chemical flame retardants like
Firemaster 550 - This material includes a phthalate that is banned from children’s products because of its carcinogenicity (an agent that tends to produce a cancer).
Chlorinated tris - A chemical that’s been banned from children’s products because it had been discovered to be linked to cancer.
Polybrominated diphenyl ethers - This fire retardant is linked with developmental disorders in children.
Phthalates- A group of chemicals used to make plastics flexible and harder to break. They can be absorbed and ingested through contact.
Heavy metals- Dense metals with high atomic weights or numbers. They can bind to and interfere with the functioning of vital cellular components.
Formaldehyde- Formaldehyde is a colorless, flammable, strong-smelling chemical that causes short and long term health problems. Short term effects include: watery eyes; burning sensations in eyes, nose, and throat; coughing, wheezing, nausea, and skin irritation. Both The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) and the National Toxicology Program, an interagency program of the Department of Health and Human Services, have named formaldehyde as a known human carcinogen.
4. Off-Gassing, what is it?
Most of the volatile organic compounds, VOCs, are to blame for consumers getting health issues related to their products, and it’s pretty frightening to think about breathing them in through the night. After all, we do spend ⅓ of our lives asleep and in our beds. Scarier yet is that too much exposure to these volatile organic compounds has been linked to health problems from chest irritation to cancer. Better safe than sorry when it comes to the materials you choose to bring into your home. Like instead of using a largely manufactured mattress, buy a healthy, organically certified mattress (we think the Ergovea line is pretty nifty).
5. How is it still happening?
In a Chicago Tribune article from 2012, it is said that, “...the chemical industry successfully distorted the basic knowledge about toxic chemicals that are used in consumer products and linked to serious health problems, including cancer, developmental problems, neurological deficits and impaired fertility. Industry has disseminated misleading research findings so frequently that they essentially have been adopted as fact. They have been cited by consultants, think tanks, regulators and Wikipedia, and have shaped the worldwide debate about the safety of flame retardants.”
Ergovea is committed to using materials in our organic mattress and bedding products that are safe for you and your family, and help promote clean/safe environmental health.
Images Courtesy of Permanent Glimpse Photography