We often hear from people who think they aren’t wearing any fragrance while their fume trail is noticeable (and headache inducing or worse) from 100 feet away. Not only that, but the scent residues are left everywhere these people have touched anything, including pretty much permanently in the furniture they’ve used.
How can this be?
Laundry products!
…
Posted in Accessibility, Air Quality, chemicals in clothing, Environmental Health, Fashion, Laundry, Pollution, Public Health
Tagged accessibility barriers, allergies, asthma, chemical sensitivity, Chemicals, dryer vents, environmental sensitivities, fragrance-free, fragrance-free policy, hazardous air pollutants, IAQ, invisible disabilities, MCS, petrochemicals, phthalates, toxic trespass, VOCs
A few of us were talking about the steps some of us canaries have to take to be able to go places: masks, respirators, scarves to cover hair, lab coats, long skirts, outdoor only clothes that are removed before entering our safe homes, and clothes that are never worn inside due to picking up so much 2nd and 3rd hand fragrance contamination.
And the removal and bagging for later washing of everything we did wear or have with us, and the showers we have to take as soon as we get home.
Then there’s the lunch kits and other accessories we need to pack, but that’s another blog post or three.
I’ve posted before about using tyvek suits, both to wear in order to protect us from exposures when we go out, or to have others wear to protect us from exposures to their products off-gassing when we need them to enter our space.
This time though, someone mentioned that they wanted to go to an event that lasted long enough that they would need to use the washroom while out, so a one piece tyvek suit wasn’t going to cut it.
A song by Jonathan Richman
I had never heard of Jonathan Richman before this song about not being able to walk outside at night because of dryer sheets, fabric softener, air “fresheners”, and having to close doors and windows because of them, so I looked him up and found he had done a song about cell phones too. Here they are:
Continue reading
Choosing the safest clothing and textiles means knowing something about the life cycle of how they were grown, processed, and made… and the only way to know anything about the life cycle of anything, is for it to have some serious certifications. Here, OECOTEXTILES explains textile certifications
https://oecotextiles.wordpress.com/2016/03/14/textile-certifications
Don’t forget to take a look at our new retail website (Two Sisters Ecotextiles) and let us know what you think. We’re still working out some kinks so your input is really appreciated.
In the textile industry, there are two third party certifications which are transparent and to which we certify our fabrics: the Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS) and Oeko-Tex. Another logo you see on our site is the GreenSpec logo. To be listed by GreenSpec means that the products are best of class as determined by Environmental Building News.
What does it mean for a fabric to be GOTS certified?
The Global Organic Textile Standard, GOTS, was published in 2006. It was brought about through the combined efforts of organic trade associations of the United States, Great Britain, Japan, and Germany. GOTS aims to define a universal standard for organic fabrics—from harvesting the raw materials…
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Posted in chemicals in clothing, Environmental Health, Fashion, Laundry
Tagged certification, Clothing, safer, textiles
“Exposure to these chemicals increases the risk of allergic dermatitis, but more severe health effect for humans as well as the environment could possibly be related to these chemicals. Some of them are suspected or proved carcinogens and some have aquatic toxicity,”
Giovanna Luongo found that there are harmful chemical residues left in clothing even after 10 washes and presents the information in her Doctoral Thesis, Chemicals in textiles A potential source for human exposure and environmental pollution.
This scientifically validates what some of us have been saying for years, that some harmful chemical residues can be extremely difficult if not impossible to remove, (as the rigmarole we have to go through in an attempt to have safe to wear clothing to wear attests), and that normally undetectable trace levels can cause disabling effects.
Many chemicals present in clothing (and bedding) enter the human body via dermal absorption, and can be detected in urine hours later!
This poster shows how chemicals enter our bodies:
Posted in Accessibility, chemicals in clothing, Environmental Health, Fashion, Laundry, Toxic Trespass
Tagged allergies, cancer, chemicals in clothing, detox, environmental sensitivities, fibromyalgia, health, MCS, MCS/ES, multiple chemical sensitivity, petrochemicals, Pollution, sensitive to pollution, toxic chemicals, Water
Yes way…sighs…
Most of us wear underwear all the time. We don’t think much about it.
I remember when I used to be able to find decent 100% cottom undies with enclosed elastic waistbands at the dollar stores! I could throw them in the wash once, and they were good to go. Those were the days!
More recently, I’ve been disabled from a serious fibro flare caused by trace (?) levels of chemical residues from wearing organic undies that cost me $20 a pair. Even after soaking and washing them at least a dozen times, and then boiling them several times after.
Disabled?
Yes, disabled!
My alternate title for this post was Disabled by Underwear… Here’s what happened:
Posted in Chemicals, chemicals in clothing, Disability, Environmental Health, Fashion, Fibromyalgia, Laundry, Products
Tagged #May12, allergies, chemical free, chemicals in clothing, chronic health problems, chronic pain, Clothing, environmental sensitivities, fibromyalgia, furnishings, furniture, MCS, MCS/ES, pesticides, petrochemicals, sensitive to pollution, toxic textiles
Another excellent post from O ECOTEXTILES
…”The generations born from 1970 on are the first to be raised in a truly toxified world. Probably one in three of the children you know suffers from a chronic illness – based on the finding of many studies on children’s health issues.[5] It could be cancer, or birth defects – perhaps asthma, or a problem that affects the child’s mind and behavior, such as a learning disorder, ADHD or autism or even a peanut allergy. We do know, for example: …”
We received a comment on one of our blog posts recently in which the reader chastised us for exaggerating issues which they believe are disproportionate to the facts. In their words: For instance formaldehyde… is a volatile chemical…no doubt it is used in the textile industry a great deal…but looking for this chemical in end products is an example chasing a ghost…. It has to be put in perspective. I do not know of any citation that a human developed cancer because they wore durable press finished clothing.
Please follow along as I itemize the reasons that we don’t feel the issues are exaggerated.
Textiles are full of chemicals. The chemicals found in fabrics have been deemed to be, even by conservative organizations such as the Swedish government, simply doing us no good – and even harming us in ways ranging from subtle to profound. But fabrics are just one…
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Posted in chemicals in clothing, Child Health, Environmental Health, Pollution
Tagged Clothing, textiles, toxic chemicals
“I don’t mean like in “the clothes make the man” kind of way, but in the “our bodies absorb chemicals found in our environment” kind of way.”
We really do need safe products and materials, it shouldn’t be so difficult to find them…
However, the recently revised “Chemical Safety Improvement Act” that had bipartisan support was a chemical industry protection act, and did not protect people or the environment.
We need better!
And we need to be educated about what to look for and what to avoid. OEcotextiles is a great resource!
In Memoriam: U.S. Senator Frank R. Lautenberg (D – NJ).
Sen. Lautenberg fought valiantly to reform the weak laws protecting consumers in the US from chemical incursions in their lives. He introduced the “Safe Chemicals Act of 2010”, which was defeated, but followed up with the “Chemical Safety Improvement Act” which has been endorsed by the New York Times, the Washington Post and has bipartisan support at this time. It caps eight years of work by Senator Lautenberg to fix the nation’s broken chemical law (the TSCA) which has been proven ineffective and is criticized by both the public health community and industry. Thank you Senator Lautenberg.
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You are what you wear.
I don’t mean like in “the clothes make the man” kind of way, but in the “our bodies absorb chemicals found in our environment” kind of way.
The new science of biomonitoring has enabled scientists to…
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O Ecotextiles is a great blog to follow if you are interested in what’s happening in the textile world. Lots of excellent information about why those of us with MCS/ES and Fibromyalgia can have so much difficulty finding safe (non-toxic) clothing to wear, as well as safe beds and furniture to rest our weary bodies on.
Here’s their latest, a subject that is worth understanding, as endocrine disruptors are found in so many of our everyday products and materials, and our endocrine systems are responsible for regulating so much of our lives, processes that we seem to have taken for granted for far too long…
Endocrine disruptors – in fabric?.
A big thank you to Patty and Leigh Anne who founded O Ecotextiles in 2004 and keep us so well informed.
In her blog post Fashion victim, Alysha writes about discovering the need for precaution when choosing her clothing, and mentions how my blog post on Greenpeace’s efforts to Detox Fashion helped open her eyes.
Thanks Alysha!
Posted in chemicals in clothing, Fashion
Tagged detox fashion, fashion, greenpeace, laundry
Seriously "Sensitive" to Pollution 