Organic Cotton: Just the Facts
- It takes about one-third of a pound of pesticides and fertilizers to grow enough non-organic cotton for just one T-shirt.[1]
- Non-organic cotton uses more insecticides than any other crop.[2]
- Each year, non-organic cotton producers around the world use nearly $2.6 billion worth of pesticides—that’s more than 10 per cent of the world's pesticides and nearly 25 per cent of the world's insecticides. [3]
- Problems linked to pesticide use include: reduced soil fertility, frequent water pollution, reduced biodiversity in the surrounding areas and wild animal and livestock poisoning. [4]
- According to the UK-based Pesticide Action Network, at least 20,000 people in developing countries die every year from poisoning by agricultural pesticides and three million suffer acute or reproductive after effects.[5]
- The majority of cotton, by weight, ends up in our food supply. Cottonseed oil is used in everything from cookies to canned tuna—just one more reason we need organic cotton![6]
- Growing organic cotton means health and ecological damage can be prevented so that human illness, environmental depletion and financial losses can be reduced. [7]
- Organic cotton feels softer because the cotton fibers are left intact and not broken down by the chemicals used in the farming and processing of non-organic cotton. [8]
- Organic cotton is not finished with formaldehyde, which has been identified as a cancer-causing agent by the International Institute for Research on Cancer and which is used to finish non-organic cotton products. [9]
- Organic cotton is less likely to trigger allergies: there are no harmful chemicals and organic cotton is more breathable.[10]
- Organic cotton doesn’t use chemicals, so water run-off is not toxic.
[1] Sustainable Cotton Project, "Cleaner Cotton Campaign Tool Kit," Oroville, CA.
[2] Pesticide Action Network North America (PAN NA),http://www.panna.org/resources/documents/conventionalCotton.dv.html (25 October 2006).
[3]Pesticide Action Network North America (PAN NA), American, http://www.panna.org/resources/documents/conventionalCotton.dv.html (25 October 2006).
[4]Pesticide Action Network (PAN UK), “Organic cotton - A practical guide to the UK market.”
[5] Pesticide Action Network (PAN UK), “Organic cotton - A practical guide to the UK market.”
[6] The Organic Cotton Exchange, “Organic Cotton: Growing Together”, p.11, p. 35,http://www.organicexchange.org/faq.php (25 October 2006).
[7] Baier, Alexandra, “From the Cotton Field to the Wardrobe”, PAN Germany, p. 1.
[8]Cut 4 Cloth, “Organic Cotton Farming Saves Lives…”, http://www.cut4cloth.co.uk/shopuarticle1.html (25 October 2006).
[9]Cut 4 Cloth, “Organic Cotton Farming Saves Lives…”, http://www.cut4cloth.co.uk/shopuarticle1.html (25 October 2006).
[10]Cut 4 Cloth, “Organic Cotton Farming Saves Lives…”, http://www.cut4cloth.co.uk/shopuarticle1.html(25 October 2006).
