6

The article Czy Twoje ubrania Cię trują? "Wchłaniamy chemię przez skórę. Stąd np. problemy z płodnością" (Do your clothes poison you? "We absorb chemicals through the skin, hence, for example, fertility problems") is in the website of a popular radio channel. It is a synopsis of an interview with Marta Huma from ekonsument.pl.

Claims from this article:

  • Cotton is difficult to grow and for this reason "cocktails of chemicals" are used to cultivate it (e.g. 25% of all herbicides used in agriculture are used to grow cotton);
  • Processing cotton involves using formaldehyde, chlorine and "thousands of other chemicals";
  • As a result, people who wear cotton clothing absorb "tons of chemicals" through skin;
  • These substances are mainly endocrine-disrupting and are a cause of fertility problems in wearers;
  • As opposed to the above "junk cloth", healthy cloth is produced from cotton grown by organic farming, which will be uncontaminated by pesticides and therefore safer to wear

Is there any evidence that cotton clothing contains residual chemicals which cause fertility problems or other harm to people wearing it?

Improve this question
10
  • 1
    Too broad. Bullet1 is eg not even about "wearing clothes". Please increase focus on one claim that is more specific than "all commercial clothes are bad for you" I'll suggest to perhaps single out cotton? And maybe get away from the word or concept of "chemicals" (which is non-sensical) but switch to clearly "harmful/toxic chemicals" or sth like that.
    – LangLаngС
    Commented Dec 27, 2018 at 15:27
  • @LangLangC But I feel bullet1 gives necessary backround for subsequent bullets to be well-stated? It mentions where are these "chemicals" coming from. Wrt "harmful/toxic chemicals": What I've put in double quotes in my OP are indeed precie quotations from the article. I feel this does contribute to the Q because this hints that the claim might originate from the... eh... organic woo.
    – gaazkam
    Commented Dec 27, 2018 at 15:34
  • 1
    Maybe ask two different questions : - Do cotton plants represent 25% of global pesticides usage ? - Would a cloth produced from a plant heavily sprayed with pesticides transfer those to the wearer ?
    – Jemox
    Commented Dec 27, 2018 at 15:52
  • 1
    The basic claim (as in the title) is that many clothing materials contain resides of harmful chemicals that can harm users. Even it harmful things are used in production this isn't necessarily true but mentioning this does at least explain why the claim is made. I doubt there is any evidence for the idea, but it seems like a perfectly valid question.
    – matt_black
    Commented Dec 27, 2018 at 16:10
  • 1
    OK, and well. But it looks like you want all bullets handled by how you phrase your last sentence. "Just cotton" would still be broad, but IMO OK.
    – LangLаngС
    Commented Dec 27, 2018 at 16:14

0

Reset to default

You must log in to answer this question.