One day, while scrolling through Tik Tok (as we all do) I noticed an alarming post made by a tik toker. They claimed that we all need to be aware of fibreglass in our mattresses. Now as an Aussie mum this immediately made me SUPER worried, but then also being an owner of an Australian mattress company, I REALLY started to wonder…what are these people talking about?
After digging a little deeper in the TikTok world I noticed that the hashtag #fibreglassmattress has had over 44 million views and counting with thousands of people sharing horror stories of similar experiences. They’re finding their mattress is causing them to have many health concerns like allergies, blood noses, feeling congested and nauseous.
I only recently discovered that some places, particularly in US and UK use the toxic fibre in their mattresses as part of their fire-retardant legislation. The US, where most of the videos are based, has strict regulations when it comes to fire safety, so fiberglass is often used as it’s a cheap and effective fire retardant – but this isn’t the case in Australia.
Not in Australia
It’s a layer that is usually inserted into the product to allow it to adhere to fire retardant regulations however, in Australia, we do not have the requirement for fire retardancy in our domestic market.
So does that mean that mattresses in Australia will just explode if there is a fire? And does a fire-retardant mattress just melt?
Australian regulated mattresses won’t explode as such, but they will burn faster than those that have the fibreglass in them. However, there are ways that we can make our mattresses fire safe without the use of harmful toxic materials. One is the use of wool. Wool is more difficult to ignite and burns with a low flame velocity. Therefore, because our legislation does not require us to make our mattresses fire retardant, fibreglass in mattresses isn’t an issue here in Australia.
I did want to also point out that when fibreglass is used internally in a mattress it won't cause much harm. The issue lies in when it is exposed externally. I noticed a trend on TikTok videos that showed most people discovered they only had health problems AFTER they took the mattress cover off to wash it.
How do I check my mattress for fibreglass?
I would recommend reading the tag or description to find out what materials your mattress is made from if you are overly concerned. Here at Mobile Mattress, we do not use any harmful materials like fibreglass in our mattress. Our mattress is made from high quality and grade materials.
