Mattress Forum

EDIT:   Edited for accuracy see post #9

I have heard that Styrene Butadiene (synthetic latex) is a suspected carcinogen, although what exactly that means I don't really know....do you think there could be any potential truth to this?

EDIT:   Edited for accuracy see post #9

I was under the assumption that blended latex was a mixture of natural latex (primarily isoprene), and synthetic isoprene. Synthetic isoprene is produced on the Ton Scale & 95% of its production goes into making synthetic latex.

Blended latex, according to latex international, contains natural latex & a synthetic polymer called Styrene Butadiene Rubber (SBR). This SBR is found nowhere in nature.  I can understand latex companies using synthetic isoprene, for cost and availability. But for them to call a latex mattresses blended with SBR, "LATEX" is deceiving on their part.  SBR is not latex.

That said, see my post below on concerns about SBR being a possible carcinogen.

budgy I stand corrected.  Right from the horses mouth.  

http://www.latexfoam.com/index.php?did=12#10

google this term "styrene butadiene cancer".  Seems that the studies relate to factories that deal with the monomers. Butadiene monmer is quite volitle and also carcinogenic. Styrene is probably also carcinogenic.

The polymer of the 2 is probably relativly safe, however there's always going to be small amounts of un-reacted materials present,  however most latex mfg's wash their unfinished products which would remove 99% of that.

thanks for correcting me. that changes my purchasing decision to only 100% natural latex.

During my long search for a comfortable mattress I read everything that I could find on the subject. There has been long debates on this forum about all natural versus blended latex. And long debates about all of the various 100% synthetic material, as well as Talalay versus Dunlop latex.

But I find it somewhat disturbing that the old bugaboo about synthetic material used in bedding, plus all of our furniture, and automobile seating, and so many other things, comes up time and again as a carcinogenic agent. Maybe it is. Maybe that's the reason we have so much cancer in this country. But somehow I doubt it. It seems to me that this argument gets his greatest play on those websites that are selling all natural latex, and other websites that seem to make a living out of trying to scare the people.

I am 72 years old, and I have been setting on car seats and furniture that are made of synthetic material all my life. And if I eventually developed cancer, I would bet quite a bit of money, that it will come from something other than synthetic material that I have been exposed to.

My two cents.

No problem, thank you for answering my question.  I was wondering if these claims were more to do with the unprocessed material itself or the actual finished product, it would seem to me inherently more stable in its solid foam state.  But yes this is interesting to bring up because of course there are a lot of misinformed salespeople out there (as well as company representatives) that call blended latex a natural product...I really don't think it is always done intentionally to mislead people I think most of the time it is from ignorance of the products they carry and the assumption that all latex is natural and the only part in the foam would be the milk of the rubber tree.  Its very important to ask if they know what the actual polymer content is, 95% of the time it is a blended latex which I wouldn't say is a bad or inferior product, however if you prefer to buy all natural for specific reasons it is nice to know you are going to get what you pay for.

I tend to agree that with you from the stand point that it is somewhat blown out of proportion, although it is important to some to note the risk even if it is small.  I am not taking a stab at your age but you were raised in the same era as my Dad and I remember him telling me about how he used to play with mercury in school, rub it in between his fingers....theres a lot of things that used to be incredibly wide spread in use and are now being much more carefully monitored like asbestos...polyurethane foams and synthetic latex were also things that were developed by man during this time period....there most certainly are worse things that we can be exposing ourselves too however there are few things we expose our selves too as much as a mattress....for me this is where I take my stance on the issue...for the extra premium in my eyes it was worth it to go natural on a product like this. 
 

If I were a lot wealthier I would probably spend some dough on reducing my chemical exposure in other areas of my home, but the bedroom is a pretty good place to start. although I should add of course...I am obviously playing devils advocate here lol.  Anyway all that being said I am not nearly as worried about synthetic rubber as much as standard foams as far as what we are exposing ourselves to.