The following is reported by our mattress manufacturer:


Until now, under the new law, Boric Acid in mattresses has been very limited. It has been used in some prison mattresses and that would be a very good place for researchers to look for health or sterilization affects.

“Central nervous system injury, gastrointestinal effects, and skin damage are characteristic manifestations of boron toxicity in humans. Liver and kidneys in humans and testes in animals can also be affected. Various clinical and biochemical changes associated with these effects may be measured to detect the extent of exposure to boron. There is no single biological indicator of boron exposure” It can be difficult to detect Boron poisoning.

I read a report of one Asthma sufferer who claimed sleeping on a Boric Acid mattress made it difficult for him to breathe. He tried alternating sleeping on the Boric Acid and a ‘clean’ mattress for several days each for several trials. He finally determined the Boric Acid mattress was causing his problem. What will happen to these people when they can’t get a ‘clean’ mattress?

Our healthy adult bodies can tolerate and get rid of a certain amount of poison. How about impaired people? How about children? We know “Neonatal children are unusually susceptible to boron exposure.” How about the unborn? “Exposure to pesticides, especially during early pregnancy, had a clear positive association with stillbirths regardless of cause of death.” http://oem.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/abstract/54/7/511

Are any of these related to Boric Acid? A piece of cotton batting that contains 10% Boric Acid by weight can contain up to or more than a pound of poison in the surface of your mattress. Then as you often lie on your mattress with your mouth and nostrils directly on the surface perhaps your drool causes you to ingest these chemicals. But certainly you are breathing these chemicals and absorbing them through your skin. The NCBI goes on to tell us Boric Acid will kill organisms in our mattresses and that it is also an insecticide. Should this tell us something? Yes it’s Poison. How much poison are you willing to tolerate in your mattress?

The science of toxicology uses high dose short-term exposure on various animals to predict the affect of low dose long-term exposure on humans. Chemical exposure risk greatly increases with, close contact, and length of exposure. For an infant born today this exposure on a mattress will be eight or more hours per day, every day, for the next seventy years or more.

Boric Acid, a chemical made from the reaction of Sulfuric Acid and Borax, should not be confused with Boron salts that occur in nature. Boric acid is the raw stuff. It occurs in nature in only one place in the world -- A steam vent in Italy where Sulfuric Acid mixes with Borax. (Microsoft Encarta)

This mattress cutaway shows how Boric Acid is used in mattresses. The layer at the surface is fluffy cotton batting treated with Boric Acid. The layer next to the springs is compressed cotton batting treated with Boric Acid. The law label tells us the mattress contains: 47% Urethane Foam, 39% Treated Cotton, 13% Polyester Fiber. By weighing the cotton batting in the mattress and assuming 10% Boric Acid by weight,Boric Acid treated mattresses would contain the following amount of Boric Acid in each mattress: (3)

Amount of Boric Acid in Mattresses by Size

SIZE King Queen Full Twin

POUNDS 1.8 1.5 1.2 0.9

GRAMS 824 659 553 386

OUNCES 29 23 20 14

“Generally applied in the mixing machine prior to garnetting, boric acid is introduced to the cotton fibers along with a small amount of oil and chemical surfactant. To further achieve even distribution and adherence to the fibers, the boric acid is ground to a very fine consistency prior to application. … Applied as a white powder, boric acid is inorganic and is odorless.” (NCBI) Thus you can see Boric Acid is not chemically bound and exists as loose dust in the surface of our mattresses. As the mattress gets older and oils dry out even more Boric Acid will kick up into our faces with every body movement for us to breathe and absorb.

It would be roughly equivalent to take a pound or two of Boric Acid Roach Killer, sprinkle it on the surface of our existing mattress, and rub it in. This might make it flameproof. Does this make you feel safer?