[Greenbuilding] Sustainable Sources of Latex?

[Mary Bull - Greenwood Earth Alliance]

Greetings, Greenbuilders,

You have perhaps been following the flame retardant issue/scandal. 

(Briefly, California passed a law in the seventies requiring that all mattresses be treated with flame retardants--not sure if this was due to chemical company lobbying or if the motives were pure at that time (ha, ha); at any rate, mattresses, boxsprings, furniture stuffing, carpet foam, and so on got drenched in a chemical soup of  PCBEs, which are now known to be endocrine disruptors and are being linked to hyperthyroidism, autism, aspergers, etc, by scientists at the EPA and UCSF, among others. Cats and toddlers have been the canaries in the coal mine for this one, and concerned California have been trying to pass a law AB706 to ban the use of these chemicals. The stuff never stops off-gassing and we have accumulated a lot in our body fat--so much that it is now in unsafe amounts in mother's milk... You can get the same flame-retardant capacity with compressed wool, by the way.)

Well, I have been researching organic beds--there are a lot out there now--the basic choice is solid latex or a combo of metal coils and organic cotton stuffing, the latter is dust mite heaven, whereas latex is dust-mite resistant.... The issue for me is latex. Rubber trees are tropical, and most latex comes from Malaysia now (I guess agent orange killed the plantations in Vietnam), though I found a source in Sri Lanka, part of the "Project" to help Sri Lanka recover from the devastating tsunami it experienced in the early 2000s--the World Bank appears to be involved in this project, so one has to wonder how just and sustainable the program actually is, though there are claims that it is... 

Undoubtedly all rubber plantations were once rain forest, and as demand grows, the more likely more rainforest will be cleared...

Are there any organic beds that are sustainable or is there any sustainable sources for latex that anyone knows of, off-hand. I've talked with several manufacturers now, and am unconvinced...

Also, is latex recyclable? Are there recycled sources?

Thanks,

Mary

Mary Bull, Co-director
Greenwood Earth Alliance, Save the Redwoods - Boycott the Gap Campaign
252 Frederick, San Francisco, CA 94117 http://www.gapsucks.org
Chalice Farm and Sustainable Living Center, 748 Montgomery Rd, Sebastopol CA 95472
415-731-7924 - 415-509-1188 chalicenew at earthlink.net