Posted in Health, Health Archive, Home, Home Archive | Wednesday, May 5th, 2010
This is the first of a series of posts about cotton, how it’s cultivated, how it’s harmful to the environment and to us, and some options on what we can do about it in our everyday lives.
How cotton is harvested..
50 years ago cotton-growing involved sustainable techniques, was not harmful to the environment and the surrounding wildlife, and did not deplete resources or create a health hazard. There’s a big difference between the way cotton used to be cultivated, and the way it is harvested now. Cotton is now considered one of the dirtiest crops to produce. It uses large amounts of insecticides and synthetic pesticides. Some of which were developed as toxic nerve agents during WWII! An example of this is the insecticide Parathion which is 60 times more toxic than DDT. (Check the links below for more info on those two chemicals).
Crop Duster
Conventionally-grown cotton occupies only 3% of the world’s farmland, but uses 25% of the world’s chemical pesticides. These pesticides are routinely sprayed from the air from “crop-dusters”. These highly toxic chemicals can then drift into surrounding neighborhoods, poison farm workers, contaminate air, ground and surface water and cause major eco-system imbalances. The crazy part is, insects always grow resistant to insecticides, so the formulations have to get stronger every year.
During processing, cotton is doused in large amounts of chlorine bleach to make it white. (Oh yeah, cotton is NOT naturally bright white it’s more light beige in color). One of the reasons white cotton starts to get “dull” looking is because the bleach is coming out. (Then we turn right around and add MORE bleach to it!) Even colored cotton fabrics use heavy metal dyes and formaldehyde resins (that’s the “special” ingredient in most “easy care” cotton fabric). It’s no wonder we have such high rates of excema, allergies and respiratory problems!
Genetically Modified Cotton…
As a result of the problems with insecticides and the environment, scientists have developed a type of genetically modified cotton that resists insects that can destroy them. The problem is not only is this cotton harmful to those pests, but it also kills off other types of helpful insects such as monarch butterflies. When GM cotton crossbreeds with weeds, it creates a type of “super-weed” which then requires a strong…you guessed it…pesticide to get rid of it. Also these crops are insect -resistant, but they still need some chemicals to maintain, and those chemicals, like glyphosphate , (the main ingredient in the weed killer “Round Up”) and Bromoxynil have been proven to be harmful to the development of babies and children.
Organic Cotton doesn’t use any of the above tactics and is much cleaner and healthier to produce and to wear. But, as we all know, it’s more expensive. I’ll go into more detail about organic cotton, how it’s made and the reason behind it’s cost in the next post in this series.
Pariathon factsheet
DDT factsheet
Organic Cotton info
Genetically Modified Cotton
About Savvy Brown
I believe being healthy doesn't have to be complicated, being green can be easy and being broke isn't an option!
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[...] presents What’s wrong with cotton? Part 1: The Problem | Savvy Brown posted at savvy [...]
Wow, thanks for this—so enlightening! I tend to buy cotton b/c I hate polyester (the feel of it and the fact that it doesn’t biodegrade), but this is making me think twice! Do you have any idea whether older cotton clothing (vintage, etc.) was made with equally ‘bad’ cotton? I’ve been experiencing rashes off and on for the past year or so and I thought it was from food allergies but now I’m wondering if cotton might be one of the culprits! Jeesh…
@Rona You’re welcome! No. Cotton was not harvested in this way until the late 50′s and early 60′s. Your rashes also could come from your laundry detergent or your fabric softener. Check out How to Make Your Own Laundry Detergent, Whiten Your Clothes Without Bleach, Make Your Own Fabric Softener.
[...] Part 1 of this series I talked about what’s wrong with the way traditional cotton is cultivated. Well [...]
I recently read that clothing made from organic cotton actually last longer – i.e. the fibers in organic cotton stand up better ti normal wear and tear.