So many organic and “eco friendly” sites are popping up out of the wood work. Many times these terms are misused on labels for all different types of organic products, including organic baby clothing, bedding and mattresses, and other organic personal care products.
How do you know which ones provide true organic baby products and which ones are scamming the system?
There are a few consumer watch groups who are actively testing and scrutinizing these companies for safety and accuracy. According to the Organic Consumers Association, “In mid-March theAssociation and Dr. Bonner’s Magic Soaps jointly issued cease-and-desist letters to a number of companies using ”organic” labels on merchandise made with nonorganic or petrochemical ingredients linked to cancer.”
Dr Bonner wrote “‘We’ve grown increasingly frustrated with the companies in our industry who seem to feed off each others’ misleading practices and show no inclination to clean up their formulations and live up to their organic branding claims.”
On step to make sure the company your using is legit is to look out for the USDA’s National Organic Certification program or the international version: The Oeko-Tex Standard Organic Certification on their web-site or label. Both programs require strict testing for chemicals and toxins, however I find the Oeko Standard to be more with the times as the USDA gets caught up in the bureaucratic backlog. In general its best to avoid products that don’t have these certs.
Some additional tips:
- Stay clear of products with ingredients that end with the suffix: ”eth,” such as Myreth sulfate or Laureth
- Avoid products that list PEG as an ingredient, a harsh chemical medly commonly used in faux organic baby products
- In general use common sense when products suggest they are “all natural”, “or “made from organic products”
- For organic baby clothing manufacturers find out what goes on in their manufacturing process as many clothing lines that use organic farmed clothing still sprays toxic chemicals and metals on your clothes during the production process
Baby skin care products, lotions, and shampoos may be exposing infants to chemicals links with reproducing problems, according to a recent study by Dr. Sheela Sathyanarayana, from the University of Washington.
These chemicals, phthalates, are commonly used in all sorts of cosmetics. Even though many countries (including California) have restricted their use. The chemical is intended to help with fragrances and or make plastics flexible. In the study, babies where were exposed to traditional lotions and baby pwoders were found to have high levels of the chemical in their urine.
Studies with animals suggest the phthalates can cause birth defects and some environmentalists believe they can cause reproductive problems in girls and boys in early puberty.
However, there has not been enough studies on humans for any solid evidence. The study by Dr. Sheela does not show direct proof that infants who have elevated levels of phthalates are caused any harm.
But when are chemicals ever good for us? I believe there is a huge need for for the beauty industry (and the organic products industry) to get its act together and start studying the long term effects of the ingredients used in their products before selling it.
Dr. Sheela stated “The bottom line is that these chemicals likely do exist in products that we’re commonly using on our children and they potentially could cause health effects.”
But are these chemicals used in natural and organic baby products? I plan on contacting several produces of organic baby skin care manufactuerers to find out if these chemicals are used in their manufacturing process. To be updated again soon.
The votes are in, the hottest new clothing fiber is bamboo. You can find it almost anywhere now. Its the new sustainable and environmentally friendly fiber. When combined with cotton its very soft, and even more durable then pure cotton close. The problem is there is no USDA certification for bamboo yet.
And why not? Bamboo doesn’t even need pesticides to grow. It grows like a weed! Furthermore, fabrics made of bamboo already have properties that are antibacterial, even anti-fungal — aka you don’t have to wash them all the time without having to wear petrulli oil.
But the bureaucracy with the USDA is, as usual, as slow as a turtle on valium. I hear they plan to review the possibility of certifying bamboo by the year 2022 (kidding). But in all seriousness, be careful where you order . The manufacturing process of bamboo clothing is where good can go bad. Most clothing made from bamboo goes through an intensive chemical process, to make the cotton feel softer. This is done by “cooking” the leaves and shoots in extremely strong chemicals like sodium hydroxide or (NaOH) and another bleaching process that uses hydrosis alkalization. Both of those chemicals are linked to health problems for the workers creating the stuff (and certainly not good for the people who wear the clothes before washing it).
True eco friendly bamboo manufacturers (such as the companies we use for our (organic baby products) get the ISO 14001 certification, showing the factory is using certain environmental guidelines of green practices. Many also get the Oeko Tek certification, which states that there are no harmful chemicals in the finished fiber.
Most people know eating junk food is bad, some even know putting on cosmetics with chemicals in them can get into your bloodstream, but who would think putting on their favorite pair of pj’s could be bad?
Many parents these days are starting to order organic clothing for their babies and children. A lot don’t even stop there, but have bought organic mattresses, organic yoga clothing and mats, even toys. Are they crazy or did they find some solid scientific proof?
Most of the concerns of toxic clothing comes from cotton, at only 2.4% of the worlds agriculture it accounts for 25% of the worlds pesticides, more then anything else! This concoction of toxins consists mostly of insectisides and fungicides.
These pollutants get into the air, contaminate our rivers, contribute to sicknesses to farmers and mill workers, and they don’t stop there. The manufacturing process adds even more chemicals from bleaching, to dying, applying stain resistance, flame retardants, mothproofing, and wrinkle free softeners. Some of these applied with heat, will usually bond with the cotton. .
One study, conducted by European researches, found that flame retardants can cause neurological disorders and even SIDS as these chemicals can leech themselves into a babies sensitive skin. This study showed some babies had two to three times the level of flame retardants in their blood, to cause neurological disorders in rats.
Though lots of people believe chemicals can leech from clothing into the body through the skin, there has yet to be any research to prove or disprove this. Many chemists say its impossible for chemicals to transmit through the skin when dry. That chemicals could only enter through osmosis, (a moist medium). This is why sudies need to be done to find out if sweat is enough to cause these chemicals to seep into our skin.
So though there is no smoking gun to proving wearing non organic clothes is bad for you directly, if your an adult, it is certainly bad for you and our planet indirectly. And we believe we should not take any risks with our children, hence the need for organic baby clothing.
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