Where'd you get that shirt?

Did you know?

Traditional cotton production is dangerous for both people and the environment.

Every year, billions of pounds of toxic chemicals, in the form of synthetic pesticides and fertilisers, are used in cotton farming and end up in the ground, air, water and food supply. As a result, cotton is considered the world's 'dirtiest' crop and and the most hazardous to human and animal health.

How dangerous are these chemicals, you ask?

Aldicarb, cotton's second best selling insecticide, can kill a man with just one drop absorbed through the skin. But, regardless of this fact, it is still used in 25 countries and, in the United States, 16 states have reported it in their groundwater.

With the introduction of Biotechnology, which essentially breeds the pesticides into the cotton plant, traditional spraying of insecticides in on the decrease, but this alternative is simply a case of choosing the evil we don't know over the one that we do. It is predicted that the use of biotechnology will lead to rapid rates of pest immunities and possibly production of 'superpests' which will not be able to be controlled.

In addition to pesticides, the widespread and increasing use of synthetic fertilisers in the cultivation of cotton is also problematic. Nitrogen synthetic fertilizers are considered the most detrimental to the environment as they cause leaching, runoff into freshwater habitats and wells, and increased N2O emissions (which are 300 times more potent than CO2 as a greenhouse gas).

As well as being in the ground and our air and water, these chemicals also make their way into our food. The cottonseed hull, where many pesticide residues have been detected, is a secondary crop sold as a food commodity; either to make food oil for human consumption or to feed livestock, which subsequently become contaminated. Studies in Brazil and Nicaragua have reported traces of common cotton pesticides in cow milk.

As the developing world is home to 99% of all cotton farmers and produces 75% of the world's total cotton, it bears the brunt of cotton's environmental and health concerns. Rural farmers lack the necessary safety equipment, protective clothing, and training for handling hazardous pesticides and regularly risk acute pesticide poisoning, chronic effects of exposure, and even death. Additionally, as US cotton subsidies artificially lower cotton prices and production costs for Biotech seeds and pesticides rise, third-world farmers experience increasing debt and financial stress. India's once prestigious cotton belt is now referred to as the "suicide belt" (since 2003, the suicide rate has averaged one every eight hours in Vidarba, India).

Lastly, during the conversion of cotton into conventional clothing, many hazardous materials are used and added to the product such as silicone waxes, harsh petroleum scours, softeners, heavy metals, flame and soil retardants, ammonia, and formaldehyde. Many processing stages result in large amounts of toxic waste water which runs off into streams and rivers, killing aquatic animals and disrupting ecosystems.

But do not despair, we do not have to give up wearing comfortable t-shirts or switch to hemp sheets... We can do our part to protect the health of people and the planet simply by supporting organic cotton production and buying cotton products that are labelled 100% organic.