health: organic topper over 3 year old mattress

Hi Zana,

This is a closeout on a 7" latex mattress with two 3" pieces of medium-firm 100% NR Dunlop latex. The cover is organic cotton quilted to wool. There are certainly no “weak-links” in this product. As Cozy Pure mentioned on their web site, this is a popular style for children or guest rooms. Some adults might want to add a topper after testing out the product for a while. And as you’re probably already aware, Cozy Pure is a member here, which means I think highly of them, and a phone call to them will be one of the best things you can do to get a better “feel for the feel” of this mattress.

[quote]You might remember was looking only at Organic due to serious health issue but simply cannot afford it.
It seems from the research that the difference between 100% Natural and 100% Organic Latex is certification.? Am I understanding correctly?[/quote]

I linked to some information about the differences between “organic” and “safety” certifications earlier, but here is a bit more detail for you. Most people who are looking for an “organic” mattress or materials are usually concerned more with “safety” than whether the materials have an actual organic certification and they usually aren’t aware that an organic certification isn’t the same thing as a safety certification. There is more information about the three different levels of organic certifications in post #2 here and some of the benefits of an organic certification in post #3 here and there is more about the different types of organic and safety certifications such as Oeko-tex, Eco-Institut, Greenguard Gold, C2C, and CertiPUR-US in post #2 here and more about some of the differences between organic and safety certifications in post #2 here and there are also some comments in post #42 here that can help you decide whether an organic certification is important to you for environmental, social, or personal reasons or whether a “safety” certification is enough. There are quite a few links in the articles that I link to, but they don’t take too long to read and they will help you have a better understanding of “safety” and "organic’ certifications and what they actually describe and represent.

“Certified organic” can mean a more expensive product that may not have a significant benefit in terms safety, or even “purity”, over 100% natural latex. There are a large number of consumers however who will willingly pay for the “certified organic” label because they prefer to support more organic and sustainable farming methods (see post #3 here ).

So it’s up to each person to decide whether the “organic” label is worth any premium it may have over an equivalent but non certified material and this would be a personal and lifestyle choice. Wool can be the same and some of the best and cleanest, most “natural” wool made from the “happiest sheep” in the country and using all organic farming methods is not certified organic because of the expense of the certification process itself.

I personally would lean towards 100% natural Dunlop without the certification as being better value (it is usually a lower cost) but that’s just my own “personal value equation” and there is also a good argument that the extra cost of “certified organic” materials is worth the peace of mind that the certification brings with it.

A latex topper, either using Talalay or Dunlop latex, of a soft enough ILD, will certainly be a common and effective manner in which to “soften up” the feel of a mattress that is too firm. All latex foam (including 100% natural Dunlop and Talalay and organic latex) uses a small amount of chemicals to manufacture the latex (see post #18 here) but the manufacturers don’t release the specifics of their compounding formula which is a closely guarded secret. While I’m not a chemical engineer so I can’t speak to all the differences in their chemical formulations … the two main “chemical” differences between Talalay and Dunlop is that Talalay latex uses carbon dioxide gas as a gelling agent while Dunlop latex uses sodium fluorosilicate. Natural Dunlop latex is also often manufactured closer to the latex plantations so in many cases it needs less ammonia or other stabilizing agents to stabilize the latex and prevent it from coagulating or putrefying before it’s used while Talalay is made in Holland (Radium) or in the USA (Talalay Global) so the liquid field latex they use may contain higher levels of ammonia or other chemicals to stabilize it before it’s used to manufacture the latex. Most of the ammonia is removed during the foaming process either way.

All the latex you are likely to encounter (either Dunlop or Talalay that is made with either natural or synthetic rubber or a blend of both) will also have a reliable certification such as Oeko-Tex, Eco-Institut, Greenguard Gold or C2C and based on actual testing I would consider any type or blend of latex (regardless of whether it is synthetic, natural, or blended) to be a very “safe” material in terms of harmful substances and VOC’s (offgassing).

No worries! :wink: All of your questions are good ones and they’re answered in the paragraphs and links I provided above. It’s a little bit of reading, but as you become more familiar with these certifications I think you’ll come to a level of comfort with your impending decision.

Phoenix