Anyone who is concerned about chemical exposure through clothing should take a look at a book call “Killer Clothes” published in 2011 and available at https://www.amazon.com/Killer-Clothes-Brian-Clement/dp/1570672636. It was written by a husband and wife team who have a health facility in West Palm Beach called The Hippocrates Health Institute. Brain Clement, Phd, NMD, LN studied bio chemistry and has devoted his life to pursuing healthy solutions. He has a medical doctor on his team and after reading his book I have no doubt that his findings backed by rather limited available research gives us a broad overview of developing problems.
He begins by describing the evolution of synthetic clothing which started with rayon in 1924, nylon in 1939 the first truly synthetic followed by acrylic and modacrylic in 1950, polyester in 1953 and spandex in 1959.
The history of synthetic clothing thus only amounts to 6 decades so the chemicals in these textiles have only been in contact with out skin for half a decade. In the time frame the following has developed
- Up to 1/3 of all married couples now experience infertility
- Respiratory disease has increased 160% in pre school age children
- Contact dermatitis and skin ailments have become widespread
- Our risk of contracting cancer has increased to 1 in 2 men and 1 in 3 women
- Women have a 1 in 8 chances of developing breast cancer
The $7 trillion clothing industry is made of synthetic fabric or natural fibers grown with synthetics many of which are toxic to our health. According to Ecologist magazine 8,000 chemicals are employed to transform raw materials into clothing a process that involves bleach, dyeing, scouring, sizing and finishing fabrics.
Regulations in place by clothing producing countries only regulate the amount of the chemicals permitted to be released in our system through our skin not what happens once they are in our human body fat where they can spend a lifetime building up and also where they combine with other toxic chemicals to create synergies. The cost to research the effects of these chemical build ups and the highly toxic combinations of chemicals which become even more powerful as they combine in our body is hindered by the enormous cost involved to medical science, toxologists and manufacturers. The tests would need to cover billions of chemical synergy combinations.
For example in 2001 blood studies at the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention involving more than 10,000 individuals found more than 700 synthetic chemicals in the subjects bodies. Since the blood tests only tested for a few thousand chemicals and there are over 85,000 it is fair to say it is only the tip of the iceberg of what is residing in our body.
Another interesting and remarkable study on Parkinsons disease conducted in 2009 found that of the 1,000 individuals tested for exposure to permetherins used for insect repellant in clothing the 519 who had direct exposure to permetherins were 3 times more likely to develop Parkinsons disease. This chemical has been used in army clothing in Iraq where thousands of military have indicated chronic headaches, memory loss and joint pain after their exposure to this chemical which is even more potent when combined with DEET another insect repellant.
Dr Randolph, an allergist, reached the conclusion that the toxins accumulating in our body simply overwhelm our bodies mechanism to eliminate them. The more we embrace synthetic clothing, dyes, finishes, anti shrink,anti odor,anti wrinkle, anti stain, anti flame the greater the health problems and chemical sensitive such as skin rashes, burning, itching, headaches and difficult breathing with a list that keeps growing. In children symptoms include flushed cheeks, hyperactivity and even learning and behavioral problems.
I enjoyed a career designing clothing visiting those factories in Third World Countries where the emphasis is on producing the cheapest priced clothing disregarding safety and chemical usage. I saw the polluted rivers and the ravaged fields with my own eyes. I met the farmers struggling to survive using pesticides and chemical fertilizers just to keep a roof over their heads and food on the table. It is impossible to buy chemical free clothing but having said that there is a better chance of safer clothing from countries where there are less liberal guide lines for chemical usage. China with its world dominance in clothing production and fabric manufacturing has the most liberal government regulations which says something about how little concern is directed towards our welfare. “Buyer Beware!”
Comments