At first glance I thought that organic cotton was a 'nice to have' and was a bit on the hardcore side, I mean we don't eat it so why should we worry if it is organic? However, the growing use of organic cotton by major manufacturers like Nike, Ikea and Woolworths lead me to do a bit of investigating and the findings have made me think twice.
Did you know that it takes 1.25 kilograms of pesticides to produce a kilogram of cotton? That can't be good for the environment, in fact world wide cotton accounts for 25% of all insecticide and pesticide use. On top of this, fungicides are used to keep disease at bay, chemical fertilisers are applied to the soil to promote growth, herbicides are used for weed control, and also to strip the plants of foliage prior to harvesting the cotton.
According to Adam Smaith of Clean Food Organic, the USA Environmental Protection Agency considers seven of the top 15 pesticides used on cotton as 'possible', 'likely', 'probable' or 'known' human carcinogens: acephate, dichloroprpene, diuron, fluometuron, pendimethalin, tribufos, and trifluralin.
However mother nature is not easily dissuaded and pests are quick to develop resistances to the above, which means more and more quantities are needed. And which also eliminates beneficial insects, which in turn creates room for more bugs and so on. Not a pretty sight and I haven't even talked about the huge water usage.
What about GM crops? I hear you say, aren't they designed to help decrease the need for pesticides? Well apart from the issues mentioned in my previous blog "Whats the big deal with GM Crops?", the fact is that they aren't working. GM crops are generally designed to repel one pest, meaning there is still a need to use pesticides for the others. A study by Cornell University on farmers in China using a Monsanto GM Crop, found that after 4 years they had to use just as much pesticide as "conventional" farmers to keep away other pests. The net effect to the farmers was an 8% drop in income, and I'm pretty sure Monsanto didn't share their burden. (full story)
The way that scientists engineer GM cotton to repel bugs (who invariably build resistance) is by inserting genes that produce toxins. That hardly sounds natural to me, it would be like telling me to insert an antibiotic gene into my DNA so my children could build a resistance to chest infections - ridiculous.
So, what we have is cotton that has either been saturated with chemicals, and bear in mind we've only just talked about pre-production here, or it has also been saturated with chemicals AND has had it's DNA altered to produce more toxins. How uninspiring is that?! And if you think that it is all washed out in the process then try this:
Take a piece of cloth and dip it in turpentine, let it sit over night. Then wash it using very hot water and lot's of soap, rinsing well, dry it and then soak it in water.......now, stick it in your mouth and suck out the water.......would you do that? well that's what you are doing with "conventional" cotton, it's just that the pesticides they use don't smell.
To have a successful crop you obviously need to eliminate damage from insects and organic farming helps to do this whilst keeping the use of chemicals to a minimum. An inspiring story from India, where farmers now successfully use Non-Pesticide Management, shows that it is definitely possible (as it has been for centuries). (full story). Sometimes it's a bit more expensive to produce, but I'd rather pay for organic now and feel great, than pay a hefty medical bill in the future because of my poor health.