Serving Size: 4.92 MB Servings Per Container: 1 In Your Body On Your Body For Your Home For Your Family Seeking Medical Treatment How to Detoxify Your Body Guide to Symptoms A Healthy House Values, Vision & Mission Background & History Staff & Advisors News & Upcoming Events Join Our Mailing List Contact Us Recommended Resources Index of Terms Works Cited This product contains 100% natural ingredients. Easy Pay Pal Donations TNTP Grade A Brain-food More Special Features Back to Index of Terms The product Cotton is in the following categories: Clothing Cotton CHEMICALS CONTAINED: The application of herbicides and pesticides to cotton crops is much greater, per acre, than the applications to food crops, and some of the anecdotal statistics that you might find on the web are quite shocking. For example, approximately 25% of pesticides in the US, are supposedly used on cotton. The major herbicides used include trifluralin, monosodium methanearsonate (MSMA), disodium methanearsonate (DSMA) (organic arsenicals), fluometuron, prometryn, cyanazine, pendimethalin, norflurazon, and diuron. The major pesticide used is methyl parathion. The other issue with cotton fabric is that it’s often bleached and/or dyed with synthetic dyes. Dioxins are inadvertently produced from the bleaching process. HEALTH CONCERNS: Trifluralin is considered by the US EPA to be a Class C (possible) carcinogen based on observed tumors of the thyroid and urinary tract in rats. It has also been associated with reproductive and developmental problems and toxicity of the blood and liver. Pendimethalin has also been associated with adverse effects on blood and the liver. Adequate information is lacking on the rest of the above chemicals. Methyl parathion, an organophosphate pesticide, is a “cholinesterase inhibitor” and has been associated with many neurological symptoms. This means that it “knocks out” acetylcholinesterase, the enzyme responsible for breaking down the neurotransmitter acetylcholine (AcE), so there isn’t too much at one time at the nerve junction (the site where chemicals cross from one nerve to the other, to make the receptor nerve fire). Without AcE, the acetylcholine builds up and the insects die of convulsions. Human symptoms of too much AcE include convulsions, nervousness, excessive salivation, nausea, vomiting, abdominal cramps, headache, weakness, tremors and noise sensitivity (Gibson 2000). Methyl parathion also has adverse effects on the reproductive and cardiovascular systems. Dioxins are carcinogenic and hormone-disrupting. They are thought to be connected with handicaps in the children of exposed adults. In an animal study, a small dose exposure in utero or through breast milk caused sperm counts in offspring to decrease by over a half. Dyes may contain a variety of chemicals, and unfortunately they can bleed from fabric quite easily and get on your skin. TIPS & ALTERNATIVES: Purchase clothing that is made from organic cotton. Either choose cotton that is the natural color, or that is whitened without bleach and/or dyed with natural dyes. As an extra bonus step, it’s optimal to purchase clothing that was made in a factory with humane conditions by workers who make a living wage. Back to Index of Terms