Conventional cotton growing is actually a particularly water, pesticide and insecticide laden activity.
According to the Organic Trade Association, cotton makes up 50 percent of the world’s fibre needs, mainly for our clothing production. Even though it only uses 2.4% of all cultivated land, it consumes about 20 percent of the world’s insecticides and more than 7 percent of the world’s total pesticide use. (Scratching yet?)
While this might be a little unsettling, spare a thought for the cotton farmers around the world. Since cotton is still mainly hand picked, pesticide poisoning causes up to 20,000 deaths each year among farmers in developing countries (according to the World Health Organization).Pesticides dissolve into our groundwater and end up in our drinking water. Toxic chemicals not only get in drinking water through infiltration from farming, but also through waste and run-off from clothing production processes. Harsh petroleum scours, softeners, brighteners, heavy metals, flame and soil retardants, ammonia and formaldehyde are just a few of them. You can imagine were this all ends up. Not so much on you because a ton of water is used to rinse the chemicals out of cotton before it goes into weave production. BUT, that rinse water all goes into the ecosystem.Organic cotton, on the other hand, uses non-GMO seeds and no toxic chemicals in production and is generally grown on small farm lots. So it is not only better for flora and fauna, but brings some other advantages. For one thing, organic cotton products are softer and more pleasant on your skin. Because cotton products are manufactured without all the chemicals, the fibres undergo less abuse and will last longer. Instead of breaking down after approx. 20 washes, organic cotton materials last for 100 washes.The most important person to consider organic cotton for is the little one. Organic (baby) clothes might cost a little more initially but they are far better for baby, you get better use of them and you are also enrolling as a parent activist to save the planet for our children.