[Meiri]

I wonder if the mattress was truly new...

Some unethical, shady mattress companies have been known to simply re-cover used mattresses. Very illegal.

I wouldn't be comfortable continuing to use a mattress that was doing that.

And we've never had a mattress or cover do anything like that. Black stuff doesn't just appear out of nowhere. Even when I was growing up in an area in which you couldn't hang stuff out to dry lest it need to be washed again from the airborn soot (until I was in Junior High and the Clean Air laws were enforced), we didn't have that happening with the mattresses.

 

[Meiri]

Quote:

I assume you're talking about Pgh?

No, I grew up in the Kanawha Valley in WV. Major area for chemical plants back in the 60s, 70s, 80s...

Dad grew up in Wyoming, where clothing dries super fast when hung out on lines. When he and Mom moved to the Kanawha Valley, Dad thought she could just hang out the laundry the way his mom had. His co-workers quickly set him straight. Doing that meant rewashing everything.

In the 70s, whenever the Clean Air Act was passed, things got better. There wasn't as much black crud on the porch every morning. We could hang our swimming towels out to dry without ruining them. There was also a van full of air quality testing equipment that parked right next to my junior high school. Rather disconcerting when I think about it. They parked there because that's where the prevailing winds carried whatever from the plants in Nitro. Is it any wonder I have asthma now?

But I've seen photos of PGH back in the days of the heavy pollution. It's a wonder DH doesn't have asthma too.