Baby Blog – News & Tips on Organic Parenting

The Benefits of Organic Cotton

June 21st, 2009 by

Organic cotton is cotton that is grown and processed without chemical pesticides or fertilizers from plants that are not genetically modified.  The organic cotton industry is one that has been growing by leaps and bounds the last several years.  But what are some of the reasons to choose organic cotton over traditional produced cotton products?  I mean you don’t eat it right so what is the big deal.  As it turns out there are many reasons to go with organic cotton starting with the effects the industry has long before it ever reaches the consumer.

Cotton farming is among the most intensive with the use of toxic chemical fertilizers and pesticides, some of which were originally designed as chemical weapons.  We are talking about 2.6 billion pounds of pesticides a year released into the environment.  These chemicals make up around 16% of the worlds pesticides. For pair of jeans and t-shirt produced there is an associated one pound of toxic chemicals added to our environment, yikes.  The cotton industry is also heavily reliant on forced child labor, which is bad in and of itself, but when you add these toxic chemicals into the work environment it is just awful.   So, after the cotton is harvested it obviously must undergo rigorous processing to become the cotton products we use.  Traditional cotton is also treated with many other toxic chemicals at this stage, residuals from these chemicals can irritate the skin and are potentially bad for your health.  The risks from the toxins used on cotton are especially bad for babies whose skin is thinner and more porous then adults.

There are many companies now that manufacture and sell quality organic cotton products.  After doing the research the choice is clear, choosing organic cotton is choosing better health for your family as well as the workers on the farm, it is choosing a cleaner environment for all of us, and due to the general higher quality and resilience of the cotton it is choosing to save money.

Tags: Cotton, organic