The Verified Brand Emission Registry
We score mattress and foam brands on what they actually disclose, not what they claim. For each brand we read the published Safety Data Sheet, map every disclosed chemical to its hazard band in the Bedroom Chemistry Atlas, flag what's hidden behind "trade secret" or buried in the decomposition section, and grade the whole thing for transparency — A, B, or C. No affiliate links. No brand pays for a grade.
Why this exists
"Non-toxic," "CertiPUR-US," "natural," "low-VOC" — the mattress aisle is a wall of claims, and almost none of them tell you which chemicals are actually in the product you sleep on for a third of your life. A finished mattress isn't legally required to carry a Safety Data Sheet at all, so the honest dividing line between brands isn't "safe vs. unsafe" — it's voluntary disclosure vs. claims-only. This registry measures exactly that line, and only that line, against an independent hazard reference.
The gap, in one document. A real, public polyurethane-foam SDS we scored (below) declares the product a "non-hazardous article" and lists a single ingredient in Section 3 — yet its own Section 10 names the chemistry it can emit: "free isocyanate, acetaldehyde, acrylonitrile… hydrogen cyanide," and, for fire-retardant foams, "hydrogen chloride, hydrogen bromide or phosphoric acid." Nothing there is false. But "non-hazardous article" and that decomposition list are two very different stories — and the registry's job is to read them together.
How the grade works
The grade is a disclosure-transparency tier — it rewards a brand for telling you what's inside and penalizes opacity, but it never invents a hazard from silence. An undisclosed material lowers the transparency grade; it is never scored as if it were the worst-case chemical. (That rule is the same one enforced in our open Sleep Environment Score engine: missing data penalizes confidence, not the product.)
Compound-level disclosure
Publishes material-by-material disclosure or a real SDS with named chemicals and CAS numbers. You can map the actual ingredients. Example posture: a full-material-disclosure brand (e.g. an EWG-Verified maker that lists every component).
Component-class disclosure
Publishes an SDS or document that names the classes of ingredient (polyol, isocyanates, catalysts, "fire retardants") but no CAS numbers, quantities, or specific identities — often hedged with "may be present."
Claims only
Publishes marketing and certification claims but no public Safety Data Sheet or material disclosure. The chemistry is not verifiable from anything the brand makes public. (Not illegal — a finished mattress needs no SDS — but not transparent.)
The method, step by step
- Read three sections, not one. Section 3 (composition) is where brands disclose the least; Section 10 (decomposition) and Section 11 (toxicology) often reveal the real chemistry. We read all three together.
- Map every named chemical to the Atlas. Each disclosed or decomposition compound is matched to its Bedroom Chemistry Atlas page and its independent hazard band (IARC group, Prop 65, EU CLP, Stockholm POP).
- Flag the gaps. "Trade secret" / "proprietary" Section-3 lines, "additional additives may be present," and any Section-11 carcinogen / reproductive / respiratory line get flagged explicitly.
- Assign the tier from disclosure depth — A (compound-level), B (component-class), C (claims-only) — with the full reasoning shown, never a black box.
First entry — worked in full
To show the method on real, public data rather than a mock-up, here is one finished-foam SDS scored end to end. It is a foam supplier's document, cited verbatim. Industry — manufacturer SDS
Section 3 discloses only "Polyurethane Foam" (CAS 9009-54-5, 100%) and names the input classes — "polyhydroxy polyol, isocyanates, catalysts, surfactants, colorants and water," plus possible "fire retardants, germicides and antistatic agents." No CAS numbers, quantities, or specific identities for the inputs; the additives are hedged as "may be present." The product is declared a non-hazardous article. The real chemistry surfaces only in Section 10 (decomposition). Grade B− because the ingredient classes are named but nothing is identified to the compound level, and the most relevant additives are left optional.
Disclosed & decomposition chemistry → Atlas hazard bands
| From the SDS | Section | Atlas compound | Independent hazard band |
|---|---|---|---|
| Isocyanates (input class) | 3 | TDI / MDI | IARC 2B (TDI) Grp 3 (MDI); sensitizers |
| Catalysts (input class) | 3 | BDMAEE, DMEA, TEDA, stannous octoate | Irritants / not carcinogens |
| "Fire retardants" (may be present) | 3 | flame retardants (class) | up to IARC 2A / Prop 65 |
| Free isocyanate (decomposition) | 10 | TDI / MDI | IARC 2B / sensitizer |
| Acetaldehyde (decomposition) | 10 | Acetaldehyde | IARC 2B |
| Acrylonitrile (decomposition) | 10 | acrylics (related) | IARC 2A (acrylonitrile) |
| Hydrogen cyanide (decomposition) | 10 | Hydrogen cyanide | Acute asphyxiant |
| HCl / HBr / phosphoric acid — FR foams (decomposition) | 10 | organophosphate / brominated FRs | up to IARC 2A |
Reading note. Hazard bands describe the named chemicals against independent references (IARC, Prop 65, EU CLP) — not a claim about this specific finished foam's emissions, which the SDS does not quantify. The point of the row "fire retardants — may be present" is precisely that the SDS leaves the single most safety-relevant additive optional and unnamed. Inferred — band ranges reflect the compound classes named, pending compound-level disclosure
What an A looks like — and a C
To reach A, a brand publishes the actual chemicals: a full material list or an SDS with named ingredients and CAS numbers, so every component can be mapped — the posture of transparency-first makers that already publish component-level disclosure. A C is a finished-mattress brand that publishes certification logos and "our standards" language but no public SDS or material disclosure at all; the chemistry simply can't be verified from anything public. The registry states that as a neutral fact about disclosure, never as an accusation about safety.
For brands — the firewall
Any brand can move up the registry by disclosing more: publish a real SDS or a third-party lab emissions report, and we will read it, map it, and re-grade — transparently, with the reasoning shown. To keep this independent, the grade is never for sale and there are no affiliate links. A brand may pay a flat fee to host its verified lab data here for consumers to see, on an EWG-style firewall: paying to publish data does not buy a better grade, and the methodology that produces the grade stays open and the same for everyone.
Status & integrity
This registry is in active development; the model and the first worked entry are shown here so the method is auditable before it scales. It runs on the same non-negotiable rules as the rest of Embr: every hazard band is independently cited in the Atlas; missing disclosure lowers transparency, never invents a hazard; and there is no affiliate, sponsorship, or commission-driven placement anywhere. If you find a factual error in a brand's disclosure record, tell us.
Embr is an independent research publication on the chemistry of the sleep environment. The Verified Brand Emission Registry scores disclosure transparency against the Bedroom Chemistry Atlas. It is informational, not safety certification, and not medical advice.