Hi yogiyoda,
[quote]Yes, CertiPur is a step in a good direction. But when I look at the some of things they are checking it causes me concern.
Low Emission (VOCs) for indoor air quality
Made without ozone depleters
Made without PBDE flame retardants
Made without mercury, lead and heavy metals
Made without formaldehyde
Made without pthalates
They are checking these things because they are unhealthy. And they must be checking for this because some products are being made with those things. So, this organization can be seen as implying that if people today are buying non-CertiPur foam that they could be buying dangerous products.[/quote]
I think CertiPur and other testing standards came about because most people just don’t know what to believe and it provide a means to know that something has an objective standard. In essence … it “forces” more and more manufacturers to provide some objective standard for their claims rather than “getting away” with saying whatever people want to believe because what they are buying is “cheap” or “sounds good”. In general people tend to “want” to believe that something that is cheap is “almost as good” or “probably safe” when it may not be. The problem is that they have no way to really know without at least some objective standards. Standards that are not yet “ideal” are at least better than none at all.
The fact is that there are many materials that are used in mattresses sold here that include substances, heavy metals, and chemicals that are now banned in the US. Even in the US these chemicals were used for years before what was previously thought to be “safe” was recognized as having the potential or even likelihood of causing serious health issues in certain people over periods of time.
While this general topic is outside of just the mattress industry itself … it is clear that “regulatory agencies” in almost every area have done a completely inadequate job of preventing health issues or enforcing reasonable standards. Their fundamental premise in many cases is that it’s OK until the evidence is overwhelming that it’s not. It should be the other way around.
Any basic research on the internet in many different fields (agriculture and the medical industry are two that instantly come to mind) will show innumerable instances of materials that have been used for years or generations and were only banned in some countries when the evidence that it was causing serious issues became overwhelming. There have been many cases of products that are imported with toxic materials that have been sold for years until they were discovered. This is in spite of the fact that evidence existed all along that these chemicals or materials or products were likely to be unsafe. The evidence that they are unsafe tends to be minimized in the pursuit of “cheap products” or “vested interests” while the evidence that they are “safe” tends to be exaggerated or in many cases is incomplete or uses testing standards that are too low.
I wish these laws were on the books or even more importantly were enforced … but in general they aren’t. The belief that all the major products we can buy are “safe” is naive IMO when there is so much overwhelming evidence that this is not the case in so many industries (and again a detailed discussion about this is outside the scope of a mattress forum but the evidence is easy to find). There are also marketing standards or laws “on the books” but they are also notoriously difficult to enforce and usually require examples that are so far over the line that they are ridiculous.
CertiPUR-US is more to make sure that a product is not harmful (although some people may still be sensitive to CertiPUR certified materials) and to differentiate the “worst” from the “rest” rather than being some assurance that a product is superior. Just because a product is CertiPur certified doesn’t mean it is high quality … only that the odds are greater that it is not “junk” and that it is more likely to be “safe” for most (but not all) people.
Objective reference points along with more and more consumers learning how to tell the difference between price and value and insisting that what they buy is not based on claims that can’t be validated but on real information that is transparent is the only way to really increase the odds that what you are spending your money on is “worth it”. It seems somewhat odd to me that you are putting so much effort into “challenging” one of the very sources of this more “objective” information that could save you the very hours of research that has already been done. I believe your faith in the integrity of much of the information out there or in the effectiveness of the “regulatory system” that is in place or in “claims” that are unsubstantiated is misplaced.
Nobody wants to research every purchase in every micro detail but the information about how to do so if someone wants to should be available. This is especially important with major purchases that can have a significant effect on quality of life and mattresses are without doubt among, or IMO the single most important furniture purchase that someone can make.
What “should” be happening is very different from what “is” happening in many industries (including mattresses) and in the end it is only the efforts of people who spend their money to insist on certain standards or transparency and their willingness to be more skeptical than they are that will be the main engine of “change” in this and many other industries. If consumers were more willing to insist on more complete disclosure and were more willing to spend their money in the direction of value rather than just price or “claims”, then IMO … changes would happen much more rapidly than they are. This is as much a “cultural” issue as it is a “regulatory” issue.
Phoenix