Toxic Clothes: The Truth About What We Wear on Our Skin

Most of the clothes we wear (unless they are labeled “Fair Trade” or “Organic”) contain some pretty toxic additives. For example, conventionally grown cotton uses more insecticides than any other single crop. Research shows that non-organic cotton farming uses 25% of the insecticides applied worldwide, making cotton production a significant pollution factor for our environment and the eco system.  The USDA  reported that over 2 billion pounds of synthetic fertilizers are applied to U.S. cotton annually and ranks cotton third behind corn and soybeans in total amount of pesticides sprayed. The Environmental Protection Agency considers seven of the top 15 pesticides used on cotton in the U.S. as “possible,” “likely,” “probable,” or “known” human carcinogens.  

To make these numbers real, look at a common item like a cotton t-shirt, for example. It takes almost a 1/3 pound of synthetic fertilizers to grow one pound of raw cotton; and it takes just under one pound of raw cotton to make one t-shirt. During the conversion of cotton into conventional clothing, many hazardous materials are used and added to the product, including heavy metals, flame retardants, ammonia, phthalates and formaldehyde, just to name a few.  These harmful chemicals pollute the air, water, soil and get into the fabrics we put next to our skin everyday.  “Adequate testing has not been done to determine whether fabric additives, such as insecticides and metals, can safely be in constant contact with human skin,” says Brian R. Clement, Ph.D., Founder of the Hippocrates Health Institute in his book “Killer Clothes.” 

Another chilling fact: In California, it is illegal to feed the leaves, stems, and short fibers of cotton known as ‘gin trash’ to livestock, because of the concentrated levels of pesticide residue. Instead, this gin trash is used to make furniture, mattresses, tampons, swabs, and cotton balls!