Organic Cotton

To continue my current theme of organic vs genetically modified food, I've turned my attention to cotton, one of the most viciously toxic crops in the world. I thought I was doing a good thing for my body by only wearing cotton, but it turns out that I've actually been dicing with death all these years.

A new genetically modified cotton plant has now been produced that requires fewer pesticides. Bt cotton is cotton that's been completely engineered to be a pesticide and when animals like sheep and buffalo have been found eating it they have died shortly thereafter. The World Health Organization describes it thus:

Insect resistance is achieved by incorporating into the food plant the gene for toxin production from the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis (BT). This toxin is currently used as a conventional insecticide in agriculture and is safe for human consumption. GM crops that permanently produce this toxin have been shown to require lower quantities of insecticides in specific situations, e.g. where pest pressure is high.

Almost all of the cotton grown in India is this kind of cotton and if your t-shirt was made in India there's a good chance it's made with this fabric, which is essentially a pesticide all by itself. I decided to write to J Crew, Banana Republic and American Apparel to ask them where they get there cotton and got a not unexpected replies.

I asked American Apparel this question: "where is the cotton from in the classic "Summer Shirt" been sourced in past years?"

And got this answer:

Our dyeing process is done at a very high temperatures, even in white, and none of the pesticide is left on any garment. We look forward to hearing from you soon, and hope we can improve your shopping experience at American Apparel!

When I asked the same question of Banana Republic, I got this answer:

Although we appreciate your interest in our fabric, we are unable to address your specific inquiry at this time as this information is proprietary and is not currently available for public consumption.

J Crew were more helpful. They informed me that the cotton sourced for their "favorite t-shirt" which I wear, they told me the cotton came from a mill in China.

The Sustainable Cotton Project does tours and have been promoting cleaner cottonTM for years. Find out more information about them here. They help farmers convert their cotton crops to organic. I have one of their t-shirts to give away and will be buying one of their t-shirts to support them this week.

The winner will be randomly selected from comments on this post.

There are more resources in my previous post on GM Foods here.