Organic Baby Blog – News & Tips on Organic Parenting

What Chemicals Are In My Baby’s Clothes?

April 2nd, 2008 by

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.