While the mattresses that my grand-mother used to sleep on were made out of cotton, wool or straw (she was born in 1907), nowadays they are mostly made of foam. Petroleum-based polyurethane foam used in mattresses breaks down over time and, according to a study by the Consumer Product Safety Commission reported in the Washington Post in April 2008, releases 0.802 mg of antimony and 0.081 mg of boric acid (the poison used to kill cockroaches) in the air every night. These amounts are apparently OK if you are more than 5 years old (!). And formaldehyde - declared toxic under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act - can be present in box spring glue. Conventional mattresses for children may also contain phthalates, and often flame retardants such as poloybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs are banned in Europe and are being phased out in the United States... but are still very legal in Canada).
My friend Jean Corriveau is a pioneer in the world of non-plastic healthy mattresses and he manages his business in a very honest and ethical way. He is just the nicest person, full of integrity, who would never compromise on quality. He is the owner of Sleeptek which developed a completely natural mattress line 15 years ago in response to demands from some of his highly chemical-sensitive clients. His Obasan mattresses are not only made of organically grown cotton and sustainably harvested natural
rubber, but the wool he uses comes from a family-run
organic sheep farm in the Netherlands. The wood in the box springs comes from Quebec spruce --
sustainably harvested -- and no synthetic glues, dyes or finishes are
used. (Read more: http://www.nationalpost.com/life/footprint/story.html?id=2072160#ixzz0jif8xE9h)
Jay and I have known Jean for about 10 years and we own one of his exquisite mattresses. Not only are they completely natural and sans plastique, but they are also extremely comfortable. You can choose to have the core of the mattress hard, medium or soft or a mix of the two if you and your partner can't agree.
Some people mistakenly think that memory foam mattresses (sold under the brand name Tempur Pedic) are healthy. While I cannot comment on their ergonomic qualities, they are essentially entirely made of plastic (visco-elastic polyurethane foam) and are loaded with various chemicals to obtain the special NASA-like properties. The level of VOCs they emit is such that it causes pulmonary irritations in laboratory mice. (Read more: http://www.treehugger.com/files/2010/03/how-bad-is-memory-foam.php?campaign=daily_nl)
Knowing where my mattress came from and trusting the person who manufactured it is very important to me. I know without a doubt that my mattress is completely safe and completely without plastic!
To learn more about the Obasan line, please visit: http://www.obasan.ca/en/main_nav/home/.
Chantal Plamondon, Co-Owner
LifeWithoutPlastic.com
