Common Chemicals to Avoid in Yoga Mats

Love it or hate it, that ‘new yoga mat smell’ may be bad for your health. While some natural yoga mats have a perfectly benign ‘new’ smell, this smell can also result from off-gassing of toxic chemicals.

Below, I look at what to avoid in conventional yoga mats, taking aim at the worst offenders and highlighting greenwashing in the yoga mat industry.

The ‘yoga mat chemical’: Azodicarbonamide

Known as the ‘yoga mat chemical’, azodicarbonamide (ADA) is a synthetic chemical with a crystalline structure at room temperature and a yellow-orange color.

ADA is predominantly used in the rubber and plastic industries as a chemical foaming agent. When it is mixed into polymer plastic gel it creates tiny gas bubbles, resulting in PVC, polyolefins, and natural and synthetic rubbers that are strong, light, spongy and malleable. 

VOCs and PAHs

Chemicals such as volatile oil compounds (VOCs) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are emitted as a breathable gas from PVC yoga mats, as well as from:

• Carpets
• Furnishings
• Paint
• Cleaning supplies
• Printer ink
• Other household products.

The use of toxic chemicals in conventional household products can mean that concentrations of VOCs inside the house (and the yoga studio) can be ten-fold higher than outdoors.

VOCs also include a variety of chemicals used as:

• Antimicrobial treatments (increasingly common in yoga mats)
• Stain and soil repellents
• Anti-static treatments
• Adhesives
• Artificial dyes
• Flame retardants like organophosphate flame retardants (PFRs).

Phthalates, PVC, and synthetic latex

Phthalates are another chemical often found in yoga mats. This chemical is used to make PVC flexible, but it has been shown to leach out of materials when they become warm, making it a particular problem for anyone doing Bikram yoga. Phthalates can attach to dust and are then breathed in. Phthalates have been linked to a range of troublesome health issues.

Even if your yoga mat has a ‘natural’ surface, the backing, padding, or bulk of the mat might be made of synthetic latex (a suspected carcinogen) or vinyl, urethane, 4-phenylcylclohexene, or PVC.

And, even if a mat itself isn’t riddled with toxins, it may have been manufactured using harmful chemicals like:

• Chlorine gas
• Ethylene dichloride
• Vinyl chloride
• Mercury
• Dioxins.

These nasties can harm workers and are often released into the environment to do further damage. This is especially problematic in countries where environmental and worker safety regulations are lacking.

Polyester

Some companies have started using polyester in yoga mat construction, claiming that this is healthier than PVC. While they’re right in some senses, what they fail to acknowledge is that polyester production is energy intensive, leading to significant greenhouse gas emissions. Polyester yoga mats can mean more of the following pollutants:

• Carbon dioxide
• Nitrous oxide
• Hydrocarbons
• Sulfur oxides
• Carbon monoxide
• Acetaldehyde
• 1,4-dioxane (another potential carcinogen). 

Polyester production also generates water-borne emissions, including dissolved solids, acids, iron, and ammonia. So, even though a polyester product may be labeled as ‘green’, this is likely less to do with the environmental impact and more to do with the end product not off-gassing toxic chemicals. 

The environmental impact of yoga mats

Sadly, more common certifications such as Oeko-Tex 100 do not factor in the impact of manufacturing processes and only assess the end product. Oeko-Tex 1000 is better, but few fabric manufacturers carry this certification.

Some of the nasties found in yoga mats or involved in their production include:

• Azodicarbonamide (ADA)
• Phthalates
• Parabens
• PFRs
• Polypropylene
• Formaldehyde 
• Benzene
• Pesticides, herbicides, and fertilizers (in ‘natural’ fiber mats)

Minimizing toxicity from yoga mats means choosing a mat made with natural materials free from potentially harmful chemical residues. There are other reasons, aside from possible toxins, to avoid synthetic materials and choose natural, organic yoga mats. Supporting this kind of organic agriculture is one of the best ways to fight climate change and encourage biodiversity. 

Materials – what are yoga mats made of?

Yoga mats continue to be made predominantly with polyvinyl chloride (PVC). This synthetic material is cheap, usually fairly durable, has good ‘stickiness’ to reduce slippage, and also provides good ‘give’ or ‘sponginess’, for added comfort.

Unfortunately, PVC is rather toxic. If you plan to do yoga with your toddler or child using a mat, I strongly suggest avoiding PVC as this material can cause adverse health effects (see: PVC in crib mattresses).

PVC is also not eco-friendly. Per stats from TreeHugger.com:

Add to that the energy involved in shipping the raw materials (petroleum) around the world and shipping the mat to you, and an organic cotton mat made and shipped from India, or a natural rubber mat from Taiwan, starts to look even better.

TPE and PER – Greenwashed yoga mats

Watch out for yoga mats promoted as eco-friendly and non-toxic but made with petroleum materials such as PER (Polymer Environmental Resin) or TPE (Thermoplastic Elastomer).

These materials may be better than PVC in terms of energy use, but they are not natural and typically contain a variety of toxic chemicals.

What is TPE?

TPE is a synthetic material that can comprise rubber, plastic, a mixture of the two, or something else entirely. The big selling point of TPE for yoga mats seems simply to be that it’s not PVC. 

Mat manufacturers often promote TPE as being free of:

• Bisphenol-A (BPA)
• PVC
• Lead
• Phthalates
• Dioxins
• Some other problematic chemicals.

The trouble is, TPE mats can still leach synthetic estrogens, especially when exposed to high temperatures, humidity, and sunlight (as yoga mats often are, particularly in Bikram). 

I found one ‘green’ TPE yoga mat from Kulae, made using styrene-butadiene-styrene block copolymers (SBS).

Huh?

To me, this sounds very much like a composite of:

• Styrene – a possibly carcinogenic material made from ethylbenzene
• Butadiene – another potentially carcinogenic material, made from carbon and hydrogen in an energy intense steam cracking process requiring temperatures as high as 900 degrees Celsius.

This ‘green’ TPE yoga mat, then, is likely to be just as damaging to people and planet as a PVC mat that’s far cheaper.

Indeed, researchers at the University of Texas-Austin found that almost all commercially available plastics (including TPE) leached synthetic estrogens. Some of the BPA-free plastics actually released synthetic estrogens that were more potent endocrine disruptors than BPA itself (Bittner, CertiChem).

And because mat manufacturers rarely reveal the precise nature of the TPE in their products, we can’t be certain of their safety.

All this said, if you have been coveting a Jade Mat, or even a Liforme or Manduka Pro Mat, and not having the mat means you’re practicing yoga less, get the mat. After all, it is almost certainly better for your health to practice yoga, even on a mat that may have some degree of undesirable environmental and health impact than it is to not practice and instead feel stressed and unhealthy through lack of exercise.

Natural yoga mat materials

Natural yoga mat materials make it easier to get into your flow, given that you won’t be worrying about inhaling toxic gases or ruining the planet.

Here’s a quick breakdown of yoga mat materials:

Final thoughts

Now you know what to avoid in yoga mats and how to choose a material or combination that works for your practice, check out these fantastic yoga mats – eco-friendly, non-toxic, and tried and tested by the LeafScore team!