Hi janello,
Yes … you can see my thoughts about them in post #2 here and a forum search on Winndom (you can just click this)will bring up more comments about them as well.
the smell won’t tell you anything because there are many chemicals that you can’t smell at all and some materials that have a strong smell aren’t harmful. You would have to go by the integrity and reputation of the manufacturer and your confidence that they are telling you the truth.
The question of “how safe is safe enough for me?” is a difficult one (not just for mattresses) and each person may have a different answer. There are no black and white answers to be found. There is a lot more information in post #2 here and the posts and sources it links to that can help you answer it based on your own personal beliefs and criteria. For most people, if memory foam or polyfoam is CertiPur certified then it would be “safe enough” (although I still wouldn’t use memory foam for younger children) but of course there are others that would never purchase either of them even with a certification. There are many people who won’t wear synthetic clothing and there are some who are very sensitive that have conditions like MCS (multiple chemical sensitivities) for example that even with certification don’t tolerate memory foam or polyfoam well but these would be a smaller minority. There are no “black and white” answers to these questions but all polyfoam or memory foam (or for that matter most materials) will have some level of offgassing and VOC’s (and the fire retardants are not the only source of these). Some fire retardants are very safe and don’t use chemicals at all and some polyfoam has chemicals added to it (including fire retardant chemicals) that are “less safe” than some fire barriers. Even some solvent based glues used in some mattresses or foundations can have issues with VOC’s that are worse than some fire retardants. The real question is whether it is safe enough for you to be comfortable with and for most (but certainly not all), Certipur certification for polyfoam or memory foam is “safe enough” as a basic level of assurance. Some people aren’t comfortable with any type of polyfoam, memory foam, or solvent glues at all (and would likely prefer either no fire retardants or fire barriers that used wool or possibly inherent viscos/silica materials both of which don’t use chemicals to pass the fire code).
Polyfoam is a group of materials and not a single material and there is a wide range from very poor quality “junk” to very high quality. The difference between them is mostly based on density. The “read first” post I linked earlier has links with more information that will help you tell the difference. I would consider 1.8 lb density to be the lower end of “high quality” and 1.5 to be acceptable in a reasonable thickness in a two sided mattress (which will last much longer) or in lighter use or lower budgets where durability isn’t as big of an issue.
Phoenix