Organic Sprite

It is obvious that environmentally, conventionally grown cotton is a bad choice, so is it always better to always choose organic cotton?

The answer, unfortunately, is no.

Organic cotton producers would like consumers to believe that organic cotton is pesticide free, but the hardiness of cotton pests makes this an impossibility.

There are many pseudonyms for the pesticides permitted for use on organics to make them sound healthier. They have been called “botanicals”, “natural remedies” or “organic pesticides”. But in actuality, organic pesticides are just as deadly as their synthetic counterparts.

Dr. Louis Hom, who specializes in Molecular & Cell Biology, states on his website,:

Until recently, nobody bothered to look at natural chemicals (such as organic pesticides), because it was assumed that they posed little risk. But when the studies were done, the results were somewhat shocking: you find that about half of the natural chemicals studied are carcinogenic as well.

What is alarming about this fact is how few organic pesticides are permitted for use on the organic cotton crop. This means that the chemicals that are allowed in organic farming may actually accumulate faster than if varying types were permitted.

One of the chemicals that organic farmers must resort to in order to deal with the troublesome cotton boll weevil is pyrethrin. Pyrethrin comes from the Chrysanthemum plant, but its natural origins belie its danger.

Pyrethrin is just as toxic as its synthetic counterpart, pyrethroid. It is extremly harmful to honeybees and fish, and can also harm the nervous system of humans, just as it does insects.

Wholly replacing conventional cotton farming with organic farming would significantly reduce pesticide use but may in fact damage the environment by concentrating the pesticide pollution to just a few chemicals.

Both conventional cotton and organic cotton pose risks, so, what is the right choice for the ethical shopper?

As with many things in life, the answer to stability is diversity.

It is dangerous to put such a heavy importance on cotton fiber. Making sixty percent of clothes from a crop so attractive to pests invites environmental devastation.

In order to be environmentally sound, consumers need to come up with new ideas of fashion based on multiple fiber sources. When we vary our fiber choices we minimize the overall impact of any one choice.

So, next time you’re shopping, instead of more cotton jeans and t-shirts, try picking up a silk blouse, hemp skirt, linen jacket or bamboo socks!

Cotton farmers use pesticides to maximize their yields and therefore, profits, but the risk of using these chemicals is not isolated to just farm workers and their families.

Although pesticides are currently manufactured to break down quickly into its harmless constituents, small levels of pesticides have been found in rivers and streams near cotton farms.

Many pesticides are highly toxic to aquatic life. Water temperature increases the toxicity of pesticides and water temperatures are on the rise due to global warming.

Even if fish are not killed by the pesticides leaked into the water they can exhibit an array of other problems when exposed to small amounts, ranging from “abnormal behavioral and pathological conditions [to] failures in reproduction” (Use and Significance of Pesticides).

Paraquat is used worldwide and causes “pain, vomiting, diarrhea, headache, nosebleeds, loss of appetite, and death” (Fatal Harvest).

The effect of long term exposure to small amounts of pesticides on aquatic life has not been determined yet we still allow these chemicals to flow into our waterways.

Scientists are starting to suspect that when pesticides get into the air, an “inevitable part of aerial application” (Fatal Harvest), they are adversely affecting honeybees.

Honeybees are responsible for pollinating $15 billion worth of American crops, including apples, almonds and blueberries.

Honeybees are extremely sensitive to pesticides.

A study published in Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry showed that minute doses of pesticides affect the ability of honeybees to smell flowers. Chronic exposure to pesticides resulted in honeybee death. Honeybee death could have serious consequences for the United States food supply.

It is not just bees and fish that are exposed to the chemicals used on cotton, frighteningly; pesticides find their way into the worldwide water supply and expose humans as well.

Some of the pesticides used on cotton are extraordinarily dangerous chemicals.

Aldicarb, paraquat and chlorpyrifos are among those used on the cotton crop (Fatal Harvest).

Aldicarb is the most toxic in its class of insecticides, the carbamates. Aldicarb is a nerve poison that is toxic to insects but is also highly toxic to a wide range of organisms including birds, fish and humans. Carbamates are so toxic that they “are responsible for the most acute pesticide poisonings and deaths in the United States and worldwide” (Fatal Harvest).

Paraquat is a similarly dangerous chemical which attacks the lungs of mammals and has resulted in “many human fatalities” (Use and Significance of Pesticides in the Environment).

Paraquat is used worldwide and causes “pain, vomiting, diarrhea, headache, nosebleeds, loss of appetite, and death” (Fatal Harvest) and chlorpyrifos is no picnic either.

While not as toxic as the others, chlorpyrifos is persistent in soil and has the ability to evaporate into the air. The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, part of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, states on their website that chlorpyrifos causes a “variety of nervous system effects, ranging from headaches, blurred vision, and salivation to seizures, coma, and death, depending on the amount and length of exposure.”

These are the kinds of chemicals that are being used to provide the masses with their latest pair of jeans!!

The environmental impact of cotton is a complex issue.

With over sixty percent of clothing being made from cotton and consumers buying new clothes with every new season and every latest style, it is an issue that must be considered to minimize the overall ecological impact of the fashion industry. The issue of cotton is especially relevant to the western world as United States and European Union populations “consume 45 per cent of the world’s cotton product, despite being only 13 per cent of world population” (Eco-chic: The Fashion Paradox).

The ubiquity of ‘jeans and a t-shirt’ in western culture contributes to the “high cotton use” (Eco-chic) with no end in sight.

Conventionally grown cotton comes with a host of problems which affect air, ground and water systems but organically grown cotton is not a perfect solution either.

While organic cotton has made definite improvements to minimize the impact of cotton production, cotton, organic or not, is not the most environmentally sound choice for over sixty percent of our clothing.

Great! You’ve bought a cool purple shirt made from organic cotton! That’s eco-friendly right?

But what about that funky purple dye…is that eco-friendly too?

Unfortunately, if we went with the most eco-conscious dye, our closet would have a very boring color palette!

Most people assume that natural dyes must be the safest to use on organic clothing. However, even natural dyes have their downside.

Natural dyes must use mordants to fix the natural plant dye to the fabric. The fabric is boiled once with the mordant and then boiled with the natural dye and simmered.

Mordants are usually made of alum, copper or iron. Copper and iron produce toxic fumes when boiled and they and alum are toxic to humans at the amounts needed to dye 1 pound of fabric.

Add those concerns to the carbon footprint of bringing the fabric to a boil and then simmering for several hours!

Natural dyes also do not bond as well as synthetic dyes so more of the dye, which can come from poisonous plants, is rinsed down the drain.

Natural dyes are also limited in their colours and can vary widely making exact color matches difficult.

Conventional dyes are the least ecologically sound. They are made from petrochemicals and use a lot of water, salt and energy. A significant portion of the dye chemical remains in the dye water and must be disposed of.

Many of the countries overseas, where much of our clothing is made nowadays, do not have the same pollution standards as the U.S. In some of these places the excess dye is released into the environment.

What most manufacturers use on their organic cotton products is something called low impact fiber reactive dyes.

Low impact fiber reactive dyes chemically bond to the fabric at a low temperature and much less of the chemical remains in the water after the dying process than conventional dyes. Most of the remaining dye (95%) can be removed through a chemical process before disposing or reclaiming the water.

Low impact fiber reactive dyes contain no known toxins and are considered to be the most ecologically sound of all dyes.

That said, fiber reactive dyes are still made from petrochemicals and some of those chemicals are still released into the water system.

The absolute best choice for organic clothing and unfortunately, also the most boring is to buy non-dyed organic clothes.

You can get a limited amount of color from naturally colored cotton clothes and from wool, which comes in a small variety of shades from naturally colored sheep. It is still not very exciting but may be the best bet if you have chemical sensitivities.

If you absolutely can’t forego fabulously colored clothing, you can still be eco-friendly by avoiding really dark colors such as navy or black. These colors require the highest amount of dye whic attaches to the fabric very inefficiently so more is potentially rinsed down the drain. Turquoise is another color to avoid as its dyeing process often requires the use of copper - a polluting element.

I love color, so I try to maintain a balance. Some of my clothes are the healthy undyed type, some are dyed with fiber reactive dyes and some I’ve had for ten years that were dyed with conventional dyes! They’re still in style, right??