After further enquiries to some manufacturers and suppliers about chemicals in bedding, I can offer the following updates for those who like to know more about the chemicals they are sleeping with. Most of the companies I contacted were helpful in supplying specific information (although an enquiry to the manufacturers of Tontine products received no response).
I can report that the Dunlop foam that is used in bedding is not treated with Ultra Fresh DM50, which is the formulation that contains the particularly nasty chemical tributyltin (see my other post). Instead Dunlop foam is treated with another formulation of Ultra Fresh (there are many) which uses a chemical called thiabendazole at a concentration of <0.1 percent. This product is marketed as Ultra-Fresh PF-1: it is registered in Australia with the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authorityand you can see the details (including product label) here. The local suppliers of this product to Dunlop, Protective Tech nology Pty Ltd, have kindly supplied a statement (PDF) from the manufacturer of Ultra Fresh, Thomson Research Associates, about their use of thiabendazole and the claimed low toxicity of the product as an anti-microbial.
The USA EPA risk assessment of thiabendazole can be viewed here. This chemical has wide application, for example as a sheep dip and as a fungicide for fruit and vegetables. Interestingly the EPA refer to possible domestic uses in paints and carpets, but no reference to possible use in bedding — where potential exposure is more up close and personal for 8 hours each day.
For those of us who are chemically sensitive, even supposedly ‘low toxic’ substances can sometimes affect us differently than the average person. It is hard to know exactly what chemical it was that I was reacting to three years ago when I purchased a new inner spring mattress. As the person from Protective Technology pointed out, chemicals are not just applied to the mattress foam but also to the ‘ticking’ or fabric covering of the mattress. The mattress in question that I purchased three years ago was not a major brand, so it is difficult to follow up now to find out more about what exactly they were using in each of the mattress components.
Out of interest, I also made enquiries of one of the brand leaders in inner spring mattresses, Sealy of Australia, who make the Posturepedic range, to ask if they could tell me what chemicals were used in their mattresses. I explained that I am chemically sensitive. They promptly replied with an email that included Material Safety Data Sheets for all the chemical additives used in the mattress components:
- Devacaps Probiotex. Described as microcapsules containing a multicomponent mixture of organic oils and materials in a polymer shell. Not sure of what this is used for — if anyone knows, let me know.
- HealthGuard PLB. This appears to be an anti-microbial product. It contains isothiazolinone and permethrin. Judging by their toxicological information (see preceding links), both of these chemicals look suspect for anyone who may have chemical sensitivity.
- HeiQ Adaptive AC-03. This contains triisobutyl phosphate which appears to be used as flame retardant. There is a toxicology report on this chemical here.
Sealy deserve credit for responding with detailed information and they also said they could make no guarantees that a chemically sensitive person such as myself would not have problems with their mattresses. For chemically sensitive people, or for anyone who prefers a chemical-free sleep, it looks like the best options are a cotton futon or the imported European mattress product supplied by Bedtek, as mentioned in my other post.
It appears that tributyltin is not now commonly used in mattresses in Australia, although I see that Ultra Fresh DM50, which the PAN Pesticide Database says contains tributyltin, is listed as an ingredient in the LilyPad Memory Foam Mattress which is designed for babies (!). This mattress is marketed in Australia by Medtel Australia.
It is unclear whether tributyltin is now officially banned for use in bedding in Australia, or whether most manufacturers have simply decided to use other more ‘benign’ chemicals in response to public pressure. I have found some evidence (minutes of a meeting of the Commonwealth-State enHealth Council 21-22 March 2001) that Channel 9’s A Current Affair ran an expose about the use of tributyltin in bedding back in 2001 — perhaps that galvanized some action by regulators and/or manufacturers.
Ultra-Fresh DM50 does not appear to be registered with the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority. However, Ultra-Fresh 300DDN, which contains tributyltin oxide as well as triclosan, is registered with the Authority, for use in mattress pads and fill, and feathers and down. See the registration entry (including link to PDF of the product label) here. Interestingly, the USA EPA recommendation about approved uses of TBT (see my other post) explicitly excludes mattress pads from the list of approved uses. The Australian registration of this chemical therefore seems to be less restrictive than the EPA’s. In any event I personally suggest you keep well away from any bedding and mattresses which contain either of these Ultra-Fresh tributyltin products (300DDN and DM50). Keep in mind that some bedding or furniture products may be imported, having been manufactured in even more lax regulatory environments, and it may be harder to ascertain what treatments have been applied.
I recently bought a new mattress (Jan 2015) and could not sleep on it due to the intense heat it generated and its smell (not necessarily unpleasant but strong) and which left a strange taste in my mouth (even after moving to another room in the morning). I could only assume that I was having a chemical reaction to something used in the manufacture of the mattress. As I am sensitive to some chemicals, I have decided to no longer sleep on the mattress in order to preserve my health. Having read your piece on mattresses today, I re-read the label on the mattress. It has Dunlop’s “Ultrafresh” listed. It may be this product which was causing me grief, or some other chemical in the foam or fabric casing. In any event, I am now exploring mattresses made of natural fibres which have not been doused in chemicals.
It is hard to accept that something as basic as a mattress could become a toxic hotbed of health concerns. Thanks for your efforts to find out what our mattress manufacturers are sending us to bed with.
Cath
Thanks Cath. Yes it is concerning the amount of chemicals in bedding, not to mention the effort involved in finding a suitable alternative. Incidentally I found recently that Ikea carries a foam mattress called Moshult which appears not to contain extra chemicals. It is available in various sizes. It is still polyurethane foam, but seems there are no added fungicides etc and nothing in the external fabric covering. I gave it the ‘smell test’ and could not notice any fumes. Good luck in your search.
Interesting information and a feasible reason why we struggle buying from bedding stores as they’d be quite liberal with the sprays with so much material around, any outbreak would be bad.
I found the k-mart inexpensive eggshell mattress to be quite suitable in smell and was comfortable enough on a softer bed with it. The bed I currently have is too firm so I’m working on finding something thicker and better built to provide more flexibility. That sensitivity makes me extremely wary in even trying alternatives as I’ve been down this road many times before.
Hope you’re getting a good nights sleep, Peter.
Thank you for your comment, Gavin, sorry about the delay in moderating. Yes the search for appropriate (and chemical free) bedding is not easy!
Following up further on Ultrafresh I found the following document you may be interested in.
Thanks for your post
Kerry
https://www3.epa.gov/pesticides/chem_search/ppls/010466-00046-20150121.pdf
Thanks for the update (just looking at this after reading your previous post on this topic). Very interesting!
As an aside, I’ve noticed I get very fatigued and develop ‘brain fog’ whenever I walk into a bed shop or through the mattress department of a shop (like Ikea or David Jones). At first I thought it was a coincidence, and joked that the sight of beds was making me subconsciously sleepy, but it’s happened many times and quite severely… left me wrecked and feeling very weird for hours afterwards. I’m only mildly chemically sensitive (I suffer primarily from ME/CFS, not so much from any immediately obvious chemical sensitivity), but the cocktail of chemicals in these departments (no doubt from the sheets and other bedding, as well as the mattresses) really sets me off.
Hopefully awareness will be raised over time. Consumers need to kick up a fuss about this. As a health/psychology researcher and former teacher I often wonder what effect all this has on the healthy development of children (as well as adults), both physically and psychologically – it’s not fair really.
Thank you Louise for some very interesting comments and useful information about chemical-free products. We are all desperately looking for these! I note that the Choice consumer magazine have just reviewed some mattress / bedding products, but my initial quick glance at this did not indicate they had considered the question of chemicals in bedding. It would be a good idea if a few of us email Choice to bring this to their attention.
Just want to say Thank You for your site. I just received a”side sleeper” pillow from Hammacher Schlemmer. Had been looking forward to using it as it promised to solve some postural problems.
Fortunately, I noticed it had been treated with Ultra-Fresh as i was pushing it into an organic cotton pillowcase. Decided to wait to use it until I could look up this mystery substance.
Almost every thing I found on the web was glowing praise of the stuff. Until I found you guys. Needless to say, the pillow is going back to HS. Thanks, again !
Thank you for your support, Allison.
Hi Peter.
Your research comments are fantastic.
You may be interested that we have been selling hundreds of 100% certified organic cotton mattresses over the last 15 plus years to people with chemical sensitivity and many others who have found out about the toxic chemicals in mattresses and want something which does not cause ill health.
We ship around Australia and have sent overseas. Feel free to contact me if you need more info.
I have been consulting with MCSrs over the last 16 years.
Regards
Peter
If you are not well it may be the chemicals in your bed and bedding. For chemical free products check out – for quilts the Mulberry silk company, beautiful silk quilts, no chemicals at all, for pillows the organic cotton company http://www.organature.com and for beds choose a latex bed with no chemicals, they come from Belgium.
Wash new sheets and quilt covers with a little bleach a few times before putting them on the bed as this gets rid of the chemicals.
By the way ultra fresh and other chemicals stay in the bedding for 25 years and are in pillows, mattress protectors, wool quilts and wool underlays and foam bed toppers and feather quilts and foam used in caravans.
Keep away from anything that says great for asthmatics, hypoallergenic, anti bacterial.
If you have sinus problems, wheezing, sore eyes, fingers that move without you moving them.
It’s all in the bedding.
I have done the change, and now I am feeling great.
Janine
Organature has been supplying for over 15 years 100% Certified Organic mattresses, quilts, pillows and many other products without harmful chemicals.
It has been proven by hundreds of customers that they are having the best nights sleep since changing to Organic Cotton.
Hi Janine.
All latex in mattresses and pillows contain chemicals.
Latex direct from the rubber tree is a sap and needs chemicals to produce the resilient foam type of product.
Even GOLS (Clobal Organic Latex Standard) certified latex contain
chemicals.
I just received a brand new wool quilt – and was so disappointed when i opened it, and the smell of chemical has instantly filled my whole apartment. Not only can I not get anywhere near the stuff (it smells as if it was doused in gasoline or something similarly intense), but it also left a very fine residue on my hands, just from unfolding and folding the duvet.
Not sure exactly which part of production process is to blame. I found it was Ultra-fresh treated, though again not sure if thats the reason.
Thanks for posting.
Thank you for doing that research Peter. I only did a little bit recently when I noticed this ‘anti-dust mite, anti-microbial treatment’ cropping up in lots of advertisements for mattresses, pillows, and doonas and looking for a new mattress – noticed that Choice’s top pick for 2024 was a latex/foam (Clark Rubber) which had Ultrafresh treatment. Looked up the Ultrafresh website to see what chemicals are used – couldn’t find that info, the PDF was just an advertising brochure which raised curiosity, so rang Clark Rubber, referred me to the Ultrafresh website, told them no info there and they didn’t know, and was advised to ring Dunlop Foams which I did and raised a few questions, one of which was ‘what’s in Ultrafresh?’- the person had to try and find out so rang me back and advised they use Ultrafresh in the manufacturing process of the foam, that they buy the Ultrafresh, and referred me to the Ultrafresh website. I told the person I had already looked at the website and there was no info about the chemicals in Ultrafresh. Was told to ring Ultrafresh. I indicated that I shouldn’t have to do that as surely they would have to know what chemicals they were using in the production of their foam. There was no offer to look into it any further, so that was enough for me to seriously not consider the latex/foam mattress the subject of Choice’s 2024 pick.
Then I found some info about the Ultrafresh chemicals and testing, which I didn’t understand, but was off-putting enough to think about avoiding Ultrafresh.
Then I found Joyce Foams – they advertise as a “healthier choice” and that “100% of the Joyce Foam range is Global Green Tag certified Green rate: Level A” and “OEKO-TEX STANDARD 100”. Their foams are infused with “CompriShield” – “a sustainable bio-based microbial solution that is derived from coconut oil” – “for persistent antibactetrial odour protection as well as mould and mildew resistance”.
I then read that Comfort Sleep partner with Joyce Foams for all their mattresses.So, started looking at Comfort Sleep mattresses.
Then I rang Choice to try and speak to someone who had played a part in choosing the latex/foam mattress for the 2024 Choice pick, to see if they knew anything about Ultrafresh but was told they don’t put people in touch, which was fair enough. Looks like they only tested comfort and price. Suggested they look into chemical use in the mattresses – and mentioned Ultrafresh/Dunlop Foams and Joyce Foams/CompriShield. Also mentioned – how good or otherwise the agencies are that are doing the so-called green ratings. Choice suggested I email them about it, and I suggested seeing as I was ringing about it, perhaps the person could give it some thought and mention it. Sounds like you might have already mentioned this to Choice years ago???
I’m trying to find out what’s in Joyce Foams CompriShield other than a coconut oil derivative. At least Joyce Foams give ‘some’ information that sounds promising.
Noticed that the Ultrafresh website does list their partners, some of which are Target, babyboom, Van Heusen, Playtex, Sealy, Coleman, Kleeneze, Minijumbuk.
Looked up Minijumbuk and they advertise they use Ultrafresh in all their wool products. Looked at the Minijumbuk kids wool pillows I bought a couple of years ago and saw they have the Ultrafresh label.
Couldn’t see Sleepmaker listed on the Ultrafresh website but the Sleepmaker mattresses at Harvey Norman that I looked at, all advertised Ultrafresh treatment. Asked a salesman about the treatment and he didn’t appear to know much but that he thought commercial grade mattresses have more treatment than domestic grade – don’t know how that adds up when it’s infused into the foam during the manufacturing process.
Didn’t realise that the mattress industry was like the wild west until I read the Choice info and tried to find out ‘what chemicals are in a mattress’- having said that, if reviewing mattresses I think that Choice should be looking at the topic thoroughly, not just for comfort and price. What’s the point of a comfortable mattress if it’s off-gassing makes people sick.
Puts a whole new meaning to ‘sleep on it’:–(
Thank you for that execellent research, Deb. Let us know if you discover anything further. It is amazing how the “Ultrafresh” word is used to obscure the details of the chemicals that are being used — an no-one knows anything about them. BTW, I have not been in contact with Choice.