Hi purestmattress,
Mattresses sold within the USA must meet 16 CFR parts 1632 and 1633 (federal flammability guidelines). Perhaps that’s what you read about. This doesn’t mean that the item must be sprayed with preservatives or chemicals, only that it pass the standards, and there are ways to do this using non-toxic materials or natural materials like wool.
The Bedfax label is a program from the Specialty Sleep Association that supplements the law label every mattress company is required to have attached to their mattresses. It’s just a list of what is inside of the product, and any third-party certifications that the product may have achieved. It’s not a test or certification, and in and of itself has little real value as it doesn’t provide specifics about the quality and actual thickness of the layerings of the materials within a mattress. Bedfax also maintains a web site that directs people to stores using the Bedfax system, which in my opinion is the real reason a manufacturer or retailer might want to participate in this program (advertising), as the Bedfax system makes no determination about the quality of a product. I wouldn’t use the label as a definitive source of information about the product.
ADMIN NOTE:Removed 404 page link | Archived Footprint: bedfax.org/the-label/
Their Natural Mattress – 7" is listed as Eco-Wool. Their certifications page is here.
All of these products appears to use higher quality materials and there are no apparent weak links in their componentry.
An organic certification does add to the cost of a product, even though it may not be “better” than another product where the manufacturer decided not to certify their product. While it’s certainly true that some manufacturers take advantage of consumer naiveté or lack of knowledge about organic descriptions or certifications and what they really mean … there are many others who don’t and for members of the forum that are better informed and know how to make more meaningful comparisons and how to ask “better questions”, you may be able to find better values using componentry of the same quality without some of these certifications.
I would also keep in mind that some of the non organic wool that you will find in several of the mattresses you listed is also a very high quality material so you may not wish to exclude the ones that use organic cotton quilted with natural wool that isn’t certified organic (see post #2 here and post #2 here about organic certifications). It would be somewhat like a local farmer selling food directly from their farm that was farmed organically but didn’t have a certification (which in this case would be a USDA organic certification) that may actually be “more organic” than some of the certified organic food that you can buy in the store.
There are also other wool cooperatives around the country that also have very high quality wool that aren’t certified organic (some of the woolen mills are listed in post #3 here). “Most” of the organic certified wool comes from outside the country but as you can see in the GOTS list here there are also US suppliers of organic wool (although the list doesn’t specify whether the raw wool was sourced in the US).
If you want to look online, then you may want to use the expertise and expertise of the members listed in post #21 here, who are all very experienced and knowledgeable and specialize in providing the type of help and guidance on the phone that can help you make good choices. Many of them will offer products using GOLS certified latex with wool/cotton encasements.
Let us know what you find!
Phoenix