Are Your Baby Clothes Toxic?
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by: Sloan Barnett
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Word Count: 497
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Keywords: green , environment , clothes , chemicals , green , clothing , toxins , green , home ,
First of all, there's cost. Babies and little kids grow so incredibly fast, nothing you buy them is going to fit just a few months down the road. So let's face it: We don't want to spend a lot of money, no matter how adorable the little outfits are.
Then there's the tradeoff between cost and safety. Some of the cheapest kids' clothing is made from petroleum-based synthetic fabrics. Some of them, especially some made in China, are colored with toxic aromatic amine dyes, which are banned in the European Union but show up elsewhere. Can we at least agree that synthetic fabrics and dyes aren't acceptable, that they're bad for both our children and the planet? Good.
Okay, now let's look at "natural" fabrics. Agreed, cotton, which is what most children's clothes are made of these days, is a "natural" material. It comes from a plant. The problem is that the conventional production of cotton plants is anything but natural. Cotton is grown on only 10 percent of the world's farmland, but it accounts for 25 percent of the world's insecticide use - and these are chemicals the EPA lists as some of the most dangerous. So if you're thinking green you've got to consider the environmental harm associated with something as seemingly innocent as cotton.
Then there's fabric finishes. When you look at clothes in the store - kids' clothes as well as adults' - you notice they're crisp, as if they were just ironed. They're almost stiff. In fact, if you sniff them, you don't smell cotton, you smell something chemical. What you smell is fabric finish. It's sprayed on the fabric by the manufacturer to make the garment look good on display and, frankly, to make it look sturdier than it actually is.
Clothing's not supposed to be stiff. It's not supposed to smell like chemicals. It's supposed to be fresh and supple. So what's going on?
What's going on, more often than not, is formaldehyde - a known allergen, respiratory and skin irritant, chemical sensitizer, neurotoxin, and carcinogen. It's the most common fabric finisher. And expect benzene and ethylene glycol when the fabric contains polyester.
When you first wash clothes with these finishes on them, they immediately become softer. But you know what? A lot of those chemicals are still there, glued to the threads. They're meant to last. That's great for the look of the fabric, but not so great for your baby. Why? Because babies and children absorb such chemicals through their skin much more quickly, and to greater effect, than adults.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not a purist about purity. If my daughter wants a pretty dress for a special occasion, and it's not organic cotton I'll spring for it. But whenever I've got an option, I make the green choice.
About the Author
Sloan Barnett is a regular contributor to NBC's Today Show and the Green Editor for KNTV, the NBC affiliate in San Francisco. She has been a television and print journalist for more than 10 years, and wrote a popular consumer advice column for New York's Daily News for nearly a decade. She lives in San Francisco with her husband and three children. FMI, please visit: Green Goes With Everything.
Source: www.isnare.com
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