Soiled Old Mattresses Sold As New Ones May Affect Health ...

THE mattress you are sleeping on may have a dark history, which over time may turn into a nightmare. Used mattresses, which are gaining popularity among the middle and lower income groups, are only new on the surface. Beneath it a host of unfriendly organisms, and even bed bugs await the right time to attack you.

Consumers are unaware of the history of such discarded or traded- in mattresses. They just buy a new-looking mattress, which is most often sold directly by dealers who come a- calling in your neighbourhood. Many are familiar with the recorded sales pitch tilam, tilam lama tilam lama ganti baru.

tilam kao kao by mattress salesmen in lorries around the neighbourhood. They pick up your old mattresses and sell you new ones at reduced prices. What they dont know is that people could have expired on such mattresses, babies could have urinated or defecated on them and worst of all, they could have been picked up from brothels or hospitals.

StarMetro located a factory in Bandar Baru Ampang recycling used mattresses. It took the reporter several days to uncover more such operations in Belakong and Kepong, where illegal factories abound. At one of the recycling centres, the workers were seen cutting up the caved in mattress and damaged parts and sewing them up with a new patch.

Most of the old mattresses were not even sterilised before a new layer was stitched on. At one factory in Bandar Baru Ampang, two foreign workers were seen giving the bedding a cursory spray with insecticide. The chemical doesnt work on bed bug eggs, though, so the treatment is more for show than anything.

Most of these recycled mattresses are sold to unwitting customers, and a number will even advertise that the mattress is new. And these mattresses are marketed directly to consumers instead of going through the retail chain, as this idea never really gained any real traction because many retailers are unwilling to sell them to their customers. So the next time you buy a mattress remember you spend almost a third of your life in bed, so it is worth investing in a quality mattress.