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Maggie's
journey into the organic cotton business was
inspired by the following statistics about
conventional cotton. Maggie's mission has
been to raise awareness about the harmful
impacts of cotton, and more importantly, to
lead the way to a more sustainable and responsible
industry and product. |
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Cotton is considered the world's 'dirtiest' crop
due to its heavy use of insecticides, the most hazardous
pesticide to human and animal health. Cotton covers
2.5% of the world's cultivated land yet uses 16%
of the world's insecticides, more than any other
single major crop (1).
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Bringing a new pesticide
to market requires a major investment of nine
years of development and $180 million plus
the cost of manufacturing. The effectiveness
of these agrochemicals is only temporary as
pests develop immunities (2). |
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Insecticides are
designed to effect nervous and reproductive
systems of insects, which are similar
in both animals and people. This makes insecticides the most hazardous pesticide
to human health, causing a wide range
of acute and chronic conditions, behavioral
changes, increased risk of cancer, and death
(1). |
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Aldicarb, parathion, and
methamidopho, three of the most acutely
hazardous insecticides to human health as determined by the World Health Organization, rank in the top ten most commonly used
in cotton production. All but one of the remaining
seven most commonly used are classified as
moderately to highly hazardous (1). |
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Aldicarb, cotton's second best selling insecticide and most
acutely poisonous to humans, can kill
a man with just one drop absorbed through
the skin, yet it is still used in 25 countries
and the US, where 16 states have reported
it in their groundwater (1). |
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Insecticide use has decreased
in the last 10 years with the introduction
of Biotechnology (BT), the fastest adapted yet most controversial new technology
in the history of agriculture. As of 2007,
Bt cotton already commands 34% of total
cotton cropland and 45% of world cotton
production. In Bt cotton, the insecticide
is always present in the plant rather than
applied in periodic spraying sessions which
will lead to rapid rates of pest immunities and possibly produce superpests (3). |
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Organic farming prohibits
the use of synthetic chemicals to control
pests, except in extreme cases. Instead, natural
predators and intercropping are used to control
pests and special machinery and fire control
handle weeds (1). |
It can take almost a 1/3 pound of synthetic fertilizers
to grow one pound of raw cotton in the US, and it
takes just under one pound of raw cotton to make
one t-shirt (4).
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Nitrogen synthetic
fertilizers are considered the most detrimental
to the environment, causing leaching and
runoff that freshwater habitats and wells
(5). |
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Nitrogen synthetic fertilizers
are a major contributor to increased N2O
emissions, which are 300 times more potent
than CO2 as greenhouse gas (5), which
is ominous for global warming as synthetic
fertilizer use is forecasted to increase roughly
2.5 times by mid-century (6). |
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Organic farming methods
use natural fertilizers, like compost and
animal manure, that recycles the nitrogen
already in the soil rather than adding more,
which reduces both pollution and N2O emissions
(5). |
The cottonseed hull, where many pesticide
residues have been detected, is a secondary
crop sold as a food commodity. It is estimated
that as much as 65% of cotton production ends
up in our food chain, whether directly through
food oil or indirectly through the milk and meat
of animals (1).
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Cottonseed and field
trash is usually sold for animal feed. Studies
in Brazil and Nicaragua have show traces
of common cotton pesticides in cow milk,
fueling concerns about chemical residues on
the cottonseed (1). |
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Cottonseed oil accounts
for 8% of the world's edible vegetable
oil (1). |
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Organic meat can only
be fed by organic feed, and organic feed can
not use any pesticides, including cottonseed.
Likewise, organic food can only use ingredients
that are pesticide-free. |
The developing world is home to 99% of
all cotton farmers and produces 75% of the world's
total cotton, so it bears the brunt of cotton's
environmental and health concerns (1).
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Rural farmers lack
the necessary safety equipment, protective
clothing, and training for handling hazardous
pesticides. In India, one in ten pesticide
applications results in three or more reported
health symptoms related to pesticide exposure
(1). |
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Surveys show that rural
cotton farmers often store pesticides in
their bedrooms or in close proximity
to their food and some even reuse pesticide
containers for drinking water. These farmers
and their families are at highest risk for
acute pesticide poisoning as well as chronic
effects (1) |
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The production of pesticides
in the developing world is also of concern.
In 1982, the worst man-made disaster occurred in Bhopal, India when a substandard
pesticide plant exploded, killing 20,000 people
and injuring 120,000 (1). |
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US cotton subsidies
artificially lower cotton prices while
production costs for Biotech (Bt) seeds and
pesticides are rising, causing financial stress
in the rest of the world's cotton-producing
areas. India's once prestigious cotton belt
is now referred to as the "suicide belt" due to farmers unable to accept growing debts.
Since 2003, the suicide rate has averaged
one every eight hours in Vidarba, India
(7). |
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Organic farming poses
no health threat from the use or production
of agrochemicals and many farmers profit from
organic premiums (1). |
During the conversion of cotton into conventional
clothing, many hazardous materials are used and
added to the product, including silicone waxes,
harsh petroleum scours, softeners, heavy metals,
flame and soil retardants, ammonia, and formaldehyde-just
to name a few (8).
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Many processing stages
result in large amounts of toxic wastewater that carry away residues from chemical
cleaning, dyeing, and finishing. This
waste depletes the oxygen out of the water,
killing aquatic animals and disrupting aquatic
ecosystems (8). |
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The
North American Organic Fiber Processing Standards prohibits these and similar chemicals. These
standards are optional for organic apparel
manufacturers to recognize, yet Maggie's produces
every product according to these standards. |
Sources:
(1) EJF. (2007). The deadly chemicals in cotton.
Environmental Justice Foundation in collaboration
with Pesticide Action Network UK: London, UK. ISBN
No. 1-904523-10-2.
(2) Whitford, F., Pike, D., Burroughs, F., Hanger,
G. Johnson, B., & Brassard, D. (2006). The pesticide
marketplace: Discovering and developing new products.
Purdue University Extension, report # PPP-71.
(3) Chaudhry, M.R., (2007, March 6-8). Biotech applications
in cotton: Concerns and challenges. Paper presented
at the Regional Consultation on Biotech Cotton for
Risk Assessment and Opportunities for Small Scale
Cotton Growers (CFC/ICAC 34FT), Faisalabad, Pakistan.
(4) Lauresn, S. E., Hansen, J., Knudsen, H. H.,
Wenzel, H., Larsen, H. F., & Kristensen, F. M. (2007).
EDIPTEX: Environmental assessment of textiles. Danish
Environmental Protection Agency, working report
24.
(5) Kramer, S. B., Reganold, J. P., Glover, J. D.,
Bohannan, B. J. M., & Mooney, H. A. (2006). Reduced
nitrate leaching and enhanced denitrifier activity
and efficiency in organically fertilized soils.
PNAS, 103 (12), 4522-4527.
(6) Tilman, D., Cassman, K., Matson, P., Naylor,
R., & Polasky, S. (2002). Nature (418), 71-677.
(7) de Sam Lazaro, F. (2007). The dying fields:
India's forgotten farmers [Television series episode].
In WNET (producer), Wide Angle. New York: Public
Broadcasting Station.
(8) Kadolph, S. J., & Langford, A. L. (2002). Textiles
(9th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
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