Why can't you take the tag off your mattress?

I was looking at Logan's crib today and the bumpers still have the tag on them ... (Yes , Yes my toddler still has bumpers. He is so snugly in there I don't want to take them away and make it cold and hard.) It made me remember thinking that I was never allowed to take the tags off my mattress and Pillows.

So, Why can't you take the tag off your mattress?

Go ahead and be a bit of a deviant. Cut off your mattress tag already! You won't be charged with anything. If your mattress was purchased from a store and not still on display it's perfectly legal to remove the tag from your own mattress. So why is it there? Here is the answer.

Back in the 1900s, mattresses often contained a host of vermin and disease-carrying materials. To protect consumers, the government required dealers to post tags on their mattresses listing the contents. Later, the Feds added a warning to the content tag with the ominous message, "Do not remove under penalty of law," in big, black letters.

The move may have deterred duplicitous mattress dealers, but it only served to confuse consumers who didn't know that the threat wasn't meant for them. Confronted by fear of prosecution, consumers left the tags on their mattresses. Recently, the Feds addressed the misunderstanding by changing the label to: "This tag may not be removed except by the consumer."

Since then, the Feds have long abandoned the pursuit of tag-tearing merchants, though states like Texas still inspect mattresses for tags in stores. They're probably making sure their laws aren't full of fluff