Does Keetsa Use Fiberglass? No, Polyacrylonitrile is Used Instead.

Keetsa started out selling mattresses in San Francisco in 2007, but soon had new locations in Venice Beach, Berkeley, and eventually a store all the way in New York!

I decided to look into Keetsa’s possible fiberglass use pretty early into this rabbit-hole of fiberglass mattress research and scrutiny.

Keetsa Fiberglass Use Investigation

Initially, I checked product pages and the FAQ for the answers to my questions. I could not find anything on Keetsa’s website regarding its flame barrier or possible fiberglass use.

I decided to just get in contact with Keetsa to find out about its flame barrier.

These are the questions I asked Keetsa:

Do your mattresses contain fiberglass, modacrylic, silica, polyester, rayon, or chemicals like antimony?

Keetsa replied quickly and had this to say regarding its flame barrier:

Keetsa Fiberglass Free Email

“We make every effort to not have harmful agents serve as fire retardants. The fire barrier used is made with 100% cotton fabric treated with flame retardant agents Polyethylene Glycol, Glycerin & Phosphate Salts. All have been tested to be safe by American and European standards.”
-Keetsa

I replied to make sure that meant there was no fiberglass, and Keetsa said there was definitely no silica-based glass or fiberglass of any type used. Polyethylene Glycol, Glycerin, and Phosphate Salts are all fairly mundane ingredients, generally regarded as safe, some of which are used as laxatives.

At that point, I felt comfortable believing Keetsa mattresses were fiberglass-free.

Following Up on Keetsa Fiberglass Use

Recently, I decided to take another look into Keetsa mattresses. I noticed that all the mattress product pages now list the flame barrier as a “Carbon rayon fabric” that is treated for fire safety.

I decided to look more into this new Keetsa flame barrier and found this on the website:

Keetsa Fiberglass Free Polyacrylonitrile

“Keetsa does not use fiberglass. The fire barrier used in Keetsa mattress is made with knitted fabric composed of carbon rayon with content of polyacrylonitrile.”
-Keetsa

It’s great that Keetsa mattresses are still fiberglass-free, but the switch from Polyethylene Glycol, Glycerin, and Phosphate Salts to Polyacrylonitrile is alarming.

Researching Keetsa’s Polyacrylonitriles

I already knew that acrylonitrile is used to make modacrylic, due to the many mattress rabbit-holes I’ve been down, but polyacrylonitrile (PAN) is a vinyl polymer of acrylonitrile.

Polyacrylonitrile has many not-so-great health risks associated with it. Health risks that include eye and skin irritation, plus respiratory and digestive tract irritation. If ingested it metabolizes into cyanide, which leads to headaches, dizziness, weakness, unconsciousness, convulsions, coma and possible death.

While Keetsa might be fiberglass-free it does use polyacrylonitrile, which isn’t the safest of chemicals to be sleeping on for a third of every day. I would avoid Keetsa in favor of safer and more natural mattress options.

Last Updated on March 18, 2024

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