Hi MC8,
There is a big difference between “safe” (which is always a relative term and brings up the question of “how safe is safe”), green (and the claims about various mattress materials that are used in greenwashing marketing), natural (which is also misused and has little meaning unless the meaning and context is also defined), and organic (which is also completely misused in marketing claims all over the internet).
There are many materials that are generally recognized as “safe” that are not in any way green, natural, or organic. MDI memory foam is an example of this. There are many MDI memory foams (more commonly made in Europe) that are OekoTex tested and certified for the presence of harmful chemicals and VOC’s to the limits of the OekoTex testing standards.
So the issues I have with Essentia are some of the misleading claims and contradictions that are on their website. These include on their front page (among many others) …
This is true … but Essentia doesn’t sell an organic mattress and their mattress doesn’t appear in the records of any organic certifying agency that I’m aware of. In the US … “organic” is regulated by the USDA (USDA certified organic which can use the USDA organic logo) or GOTS (which is acceptable as an “organic standard” but can’t claim to be USDA certified organic). For a mattress to be actually organic … the mattress as a whole needs to be certified … not just the ingredients. For most people … organic ingredients or in many cases “natural” ingredients when organic is not available is acceptable but this varies from person to person.
In their case … there is nothing to fully identify which of their components are organic, which are natural, and which are just “safe”. They are using the typical marketing approach of “claiming” a proprietary material that is widely available to other mattress manufacturers and offering no evidence to support their claims. They sell through “stories” that can’t be verified rather than through truly educating people about their materials. Of course if it was widely known that their “ingredients” were the same as lower priced mattresses (although these may use different combinations or construction methods) … the would lose their “marketing edge”. They depend in other words on the willingness (and naivete to some degree) of the “natural”, “organic” or “green” community and consumer groups who buy products that have unsupported claims attached and their tendency to “want to believe” and to pay a lot of money to manufacturers who say the things they “resonate” with regardless of the facts.
As I mentioned they don’t make “organic” mattresses. while some of their components may be organic and some of the layers may be made from “pure hevea milk” clearly some of them are not.
They don’t “define” healthy or what they mean by this and don’t provide the details of any testing (such as the “Columbia testing”) that has been done on their materials. Again they are counting on people who “want to believe” to take their claims at face value.
I could go on about the claims they make and their lack of validation but it is all over their website and would only be repeating what has already been said in this and the other thread.
So your questions are good ones and there are many more followup questions you could ask depending on their answers and also depending on how much time you want to spend with a manufacturer whose intent appears to be to mislead their customers. There are too many high quality alternatives IMO to spend a lot of time with a particular manufacturer when they have already shown for years that they have little intent to answer the more meaningful or specific questions that are asked of them. Until it’s less profitable to use these tactics than to provide meaningful information, this type of marketing will continue to be very profitable and companies will continue to use them.
This is a very difficult question to answer unless each person’s definition of “healthy” is defined. All materials will “offgass” to some degree but the question is really “are the VOC’s harmful” rather than “do they exist at all”.
For example … the act of making any foam … including latex … includes ingredients that I wouldn’t eat or could be harmful in certain circumstances. Most foam manufacturers wouldn’t release the exact chemical formulae that they use anyway and even if they did they would be misinterpreted or not understood by anyone with a non chemistry background. Chemicals that are harmful separately can be completely safe when combined and stabilized. Sodium Chloride is an example of this where both sodium and chlorine by themselves can be harmful but together they can become sodium chloride or table salt.
The real question is “safety” for most people (outside of the natural and organic community who are looking for more than just “safe” and whose value equation is more specific and targeted to specific requirements). This basic question of “safety” can only really be answered by testing organizations who test mattress materials for harmful compounds or VOC’s. All types of mattress materials are certified by these organizations including polyurethane foam, memory foam, latex, various fibers and fabrics, and other materials. If a person’s definition of “safety” includes" natural or organic then this restricts the materials they would allow in their mattress. All of these terms exist on a scale and are somewhat relative.
The first step for me would be to decide the type of materials you are comfortable with. Most people who are focused on greater levels of safety or natural materials would be focusing on either latex (blended or all natural Talalay or all natural Dunlop) and on various natural fibers such as wool, cotton, horsehair and others. Innersprings would also generally be included in this list except for those who were concerned with any electromagnetic issues that comes with using steel.
My first choice would always be to do some initial research into manufacturers and outlets in your area that you could trust to give you accurate information and could help you “define” what you were looking at in terms of either safety, natural, or organic components. Once you have found the better outlets that are knowledgeable about the issues that are important to you, have a selection of mattresses that have good quality and value (as you define it), and are knowledgeable and transparent in the information they provide … then choosing a mattress becomes much easier and doesn’t involve “untangling” claims that have no substance behind them.
I’m assuming you are in or close to New York which means that you have many good options available to you. Post #2 here includes a list of many of the better options in the NYC area and post #7 here includes more information about many of them and lists them in various categories which may be helpful.
Phoenix