ISPA urges all states to require that mattress renovators sanitize and properly tag their products so that consumers can clearly distinguish them from new mattresses.
Dick Doyle, President and CEO, ISPA

Thirty states have laws regulating used bedding but enforcement in some states is spotty at best.

The International Sleep Products Association (ISPA), the trade association for the mattress industry, applauded a recent Dateline NBC report that exposed the consumer hazards posed by renovated mattresses that do not meet federal and state laws.

Renovators are businesses that sew a new outer fabric cover on top of a used and often soiled mattress. According the the ISPA, renovators often make no effort to clean or sanitize the underlying used materials. The Dateline NBC report says renovated mattresses can pose persistent health and safety risks to consumers (see video).

In a statement issued Thursday, the ISPA called on regulators to "protect consumers from these potentially hazardous products." The association also called on states that already regulate renovated mattresses to actively enforce their existing mattress labeling and sanitization laws.

"It is a consumer's right to know whether the mattress he or she buys is made from materials that other consumers have used. Consumers should have confidence that the product they are buying is clean and sanitary," states Dick Doyle, ISPA President and CEO. "ISPA urges all states to require that mattress renovators sanitize and properly tag their products so that consumers can clearly distinguish them from new mattresses."

Thirty states have laws regulating used bedding but enforcement in some states is spotty at best. The Dateline NBC report focused on a renovator operating in New York, a state that enacted a bedding law several years ago but has yet to issue regulations to implement its own requirements. "Had those rules been in place," ISPA says, "perhaps the Dateline NBC reporter would have found no problems with renovated beds sold in that state."

The state of Maryland, which recently repealed its bedding law, is another example cited by ISPA where local regulators are not enforcing used bedding regulations. "ISPA finds this development in Maryland to be deeply troubling given the significant and persistent problems posed by renovated mattresses," said Dick Doyle, ISPA President and CEO. "Stronger state enforcement will alert consumers when they are buying a product that has been used by other consumers. This will allow consumers to better protect themselves and their families."