Why Choose An Organic Mattress?

Did you know that natural latex foam mattresses, made from the latex sap of the rubber tree, are a much safer alternative to the popular memory foam mattresses?

Memory foam mattresses, like most commercially available mattresses, are made from petroleum based polyurethane foam, an extremely flammable material. Known as "solid gasoline: by firefighters, the polyurethane foam in most commercially available mattresses burns so furiously that strict new fire resistance standards have been written into law, which started with California in 2005 and went nationwide in 2006. These strict new fire resistance standards are being met by tripling the amount of fire retardant chemicals, called PDBEs, which are added to manufacture memory foam mattresses and mattress toppers.

Most mattress purchasers are unaware of the fire danger posed by polyurethane mattresses. But the greater danger may be the higher concentrations of PDBEs used to help prevent combustion in memory foam mattresses. PDBEs build up in the body in ways similar to banned PCBs, and they have been linked to cancer and other illnesses. PDBEs have already been banned in Europe, but not in North America. Some medical researchers believe that the extra load of PDBEs in newly made mattresses will cause millions of cancer cases in the coming decades. Because you lie directly on your mattress for 8 hours every night your body has its greatest contact with the dangerous PDBEs while you sleep — and they pass right through your skin.

The solution to the PDBE problem is to do what the Europeans already do, sleep on natural latex mattresses. Natural latex mattresses are made from the sap of the tropical rubber tree. Natural latex foam does not burn well, and most natural latex mattresses are also quilted with organic cotton and wool which makes them very fire resistant, complying with all current fire codes.