Question from laa
Hi, we have to buy a new mattress – and it looks like we’ll have to buy a conventional innerspring (my husband does not want to take the risk of buying online, and not being able to return it if it’s too firm, or if we react to the organic cotton batting.
These traditional mattresses scare me so! My question is: would a wool topper (love the ones we see on Shepherd’s Dream website) be enough to help put distance between us and the toxic fumes (breathing them in, etc)
Thanks!
Debra’s Answer
Toxic mattresses release fumes that are gasses, very minute particles that require a material with very tightly bonded particles to block them. A wool topper is simply wool, which has a lot of space between strands, cased in cotton cloth that is not very tightly woven. Gasses can pass right through.
There is a material called “barrier cloth”, sold at Janice Corporation that is very tightly woven cotton fabric. Many people use this to block fumes from mattresses, in fact, Janice’s sells barrier cloth mattress covers. I personally cannot vouch for their effectiveness (readers, feel free to chime in with your experience).
I don’t think using a barrier cloth cover makes a synthetic mattress equivalent to a natural mattress. It’s still sleeping on plastic and there are the environmental effects to consider as well.
