Fabricadabra's Blog

CertiPur Foam is being promoted as less toxic than other foams.  Many people assume that it is completely free of flame retardants, too. It claims to be free of only certain classes of flame retardants. The Certi-Pur website page with frequently asked questions doesn’t say that it is free of flame retardants because it tests just for certain classes. It advises us to contact the flexible foam manufacturer to know for certain. The state of California requires disclosure on the labels of products made with foam, Certi-Pur or otherwise.

Many people are unaware that CertiPUR-US is a program of the Alliance for Flexible Polyurethane Foam. However, the Alliance of Flexible Polyurethane Foam  was conceived by the Polyurethane Foam Association (PFA) whose members are chemical companies and foam fabricators. The Alliance for Flexible Polyurethane Foam doesn’t even have a website. If you search for it on the internet, it brings you back to the CertiPur website. Rumor is that the PFA and the chemical suppliers created the certification to differentiate its foam from less expensive imported foam. This is not a third party certification. Clever, right?

Oecotextiles does a great job of comparing the claims of CertiPur foam to the realities of all foam in its  well researched blog. Once you have all of the facts, it does seem as though CertiPur certification is bluster. Many people believe that removing flame retardants from foam is good enough for them when purchasing a mattress of sofa. As their blog explains, 50% of foams weight is lost 10 years after buying it. Where does it go? We breathe it in and it settles in our homes as dust.

Oecotextiles explains that the foam is still a petrochemical and that it is still toxic. This article addresses just one of many ingredients in mattresses and upholstered furniture.  Conventional mattress ticking and upholstery fabrics are processed with lots of toxic chemicals.  Those fabrics are against our skin and the chemicals are absorbed into our bloodstreams. Most people do not know or do not think about ingredients other than the flame retardants because flame retardants are topical. Many conventional mattresses contain not one natural and non-toxic ingredient. Most upholstered furniture uses plywood frames and plywood is wood scraps and glue with volatile organic compounds. The remainder of most conventional upholstered furniture are components that are, if not completely synthetic, are processed with pesticides and insecticides.

Here is the link to Oecotextile’s eye opening blog post about foam as well as many other posts about toxicity in fabrics and upholstered furniture . https://oecotextiles.wordpress.com/