Hi Vandelay30,
There is more information in post #2 here and the more detailed posts and information it links to about safe, natural, organic, “chemical free”, and “green” mattresses and mattress materials and components that can help you sort through some of the marketing information and terminology that you will encounter in the industry and can help you differentiate between them and answer “how safe is safe enough for me” so you can decide on the types of materials you are most comfortable having in your mattress. These types of issues are complex and are generally specific to each person and their individual sensitivities, circumstances, criteria, beliefs, and lifestyle choices.
There is also more about “safe” fire barriers in this article and post #2 here and the posts it links to at the end and there is more about purchasing a prescription mattresses that don’t have a fire barrier and don’t pass the fire regulations in post #4 here and the posts it links to.
The most common method used to pass the regulations in the mattress industry is the use of inherent, “non chemical” fire barrier fabrics that are either quilted into the cover or are wrapped around the inner materials of the mattress like a sock and foams that use flame retardant chemicals are much more common in the furniture industry than they are in the mattress industry.
There is a lot of misleading information in the industry about fire retardants and “chemicals” ranging from significant “fear mongering” on one side to completely minimizing fire retardants as an issue at all on the other. Like most issues that arouse strong feelings or controversy the most reliable and “accurate” information tends to be in between both polar extremes so there is “some truth” that “some mattresses” may use some chemicals that some people would find questionable or wish to avoid. Some people may also wish avoid certain types of synthetic foams or fabrics as well even if they have been tested for harmful substances and VOC’s and would be considered “safe enough” by most people. There are also many people in the industry that IMO exaggerate the risk (usually in an effort to sell some very costly mattresses) and seem to believe (or at least want their customers to believe) that every mattress except for an “organic” mattress (however they define this) is somehow “loaded with chemicals” to prevent them from catching fire which is far from the truth but this type of misinformation tends to scare people and lead people down a rabbit hole of conflicting and misleading information … and of course is also somewhat ridiculous and exaggerated.
There is also more information about the 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 in post #2 here and more about some of the differences between organic and safety certifications in post #2 here that can help you decide whether an organic certification is important to you or whether a “safety” certification is enough.
That would depend entirely on the type of mattresses and materials you are considering. There are some very general guidelines about what to expect in different budget ranges in this article but if a manufacturer can make a mattress without a fire barrier then it shouldn’t have a significant impact on the price of the mattress compared to the same mattress with the fire barrier.
The better options or possibilities I’m aware of in and around the Cleveland/Akron/Canton, OH areas (subject to making sure that any mattress you are considering meets your own criteria and the quality/value guidelines here) are listed in post #2 here.
I don’t know which of them can make a prescription mattress that doesn’t pass the fire regulations so you would need to call and find out (if you even decide to go in this direction) but I would suspect that some of the manufacturers in Amish country probably could.
Phoenix